THE family of a much-loved Blackburn mother have climbed Ben Nevis to raise money for the British Heart Foundation.

Wendy Fish died of a heart attack in October last year aged 55.

Her husband Brian, sons Daniel and Matthew, daughter-in-law Laura, and brother-in-law

Bryan all took on the challenge of climbing Britain’s tallest mountain. So far, the family have raised £1,625 for the BHF. 

Daniel Fish said: “After mum died, we knew that we wanted to do something to support the BHF. My mum and dad loved Scotland and went there on holiday every year. That’s where the idea to climb Ben Nevis came from.

“It was a long day to say the least. We set off at 7am and experienced just about every weather known to man. 

“Going-up is very physically demanding. We took lots of jelly babies for a sugar boost to help keep us going. When we got to the top, I don’t think I’ve ever seen my brother look so relieved. The last one of our group got down just before 5pm, so they were walking for the best part of 10 hours.”

Wendy was diagnosed with an abnormal heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation four years previously. Since then the condition had been controlled with medication but worsened in the spring of 2019. 

Daniel Fish said: “It was a Sunday night when I got a phone call telling me that mum’s heart had stopped. She was put in an induced come for 72 hours to give her body a chance to recover. But she’d been starved of oxygen for too long to recover, and we had to make the difficult decision to turn-off the life-support machine.

Emma Dickinson, Fundraising Manager at the BHF, said: “We’re very grateful to Daniel and the rest of his family for taking on this very personal challenge. Our life-saving research is fuelled by the generous donations of the public, the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic means that our investment in research could fall by £50 million this year.”

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