Nathan Norris, whose daughter, Zoë, died from acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) in 2017, wore the vest as he scaled Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon – the highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales respectively – within the 24-hour timeframe they were aiming for.
Nathan and Zoë
Nathan, 44, alongside his friends Steve McMurray, Nick Claire, Ben Nuttall and brother-in-law David Deanie, was fundraising for the Zoë Hope Fund, a Special Named Fund at CCLG: The Children & Young People’s Cancer Association, that he and his wife, Laura, set up to raise funds for much-needed research into ALL.
Despite encountering an hour-long road closure in the Scottish Highlands, and facing bracing, snowy conditions, Nathan and his team completed the challenge on April 16/17 in 23 hours and 37 minutes and raised almost £9,000 for the fund in the process.
Nathan said:
We were pleased to get it done. Climbing one mountain is hard work, but it's easy to underestimate the demand of climbing three in a row like that, and your body physically being in a place to do that. After the challenge, I think everyone was very, very pleased. And relieved. As we drove back, there wasn't much chatter. Most people were sleeping or trying to sleep.
Throughout the challenge, Nathan wore his weighted vest as an emotional tribute to his daughter, which not only symbolised carrying her with him, but the weight of grief that bereaved parents carry every day.
He explained that by doing this, he also hopes that he’s helped raise awareness of not only childhood cancer, but of the impact of grief and of being a bereaved parent.
Nathan, lead strength and conditioning coach at the University of Manchester, said: “I got so used to wearing the vest that I didn't really notice on Ben Nevis at all. And the same really on Snowdon, but on Scafell, I really noticed how heavy it felt.
“And a couple of times, because that was such a slog, a couple of the lads asked if I’d like them to carry the vest and carry Zoë, which was really kind of them to do.
“But I said no, as I wanted to do it to carry her and to carry that weight of what we've felt for the last nine years that's not seen or known other than by us and others who walk through bereavement.
“You always carry it, even when you're laughing and having fun or enjoying life, it’s still there in the background.”
Nathan said being joined on the challenge by some of his close friends and family, including his dad, Paul – who acted as the team’s driver – was particularly special as they’ve been there to support him in the years since Zoë’s death.
Nathan said: “The friends I did it with, it meant a lot to them and me, because they're people who have supported us and supported me.
“For them, it was an expression of their love for Zoë. It was an opportunity for them to come together to express that and their support for us as a family.
“And for my dad, he wanted to be involved. For him being able to be involved and still help meant a lot to him.”
The money raised from the challenge so far has taken the fund’s overall total to more than £18,000 raised for CCLG, something which Nathan described as “humbling”.
Lizzie Goates, fundraising manager at CCLG: The Children & Young People’s Cancer Association, said: “We’d like to say a huge thank you to Nathan and his team for their amazing efforts in completing the Three Peaks Challenge.
“The funds they’ve raised will help us to continue to fund groundbreaking research and drive progress so that we can change the future for children and young people with cancer.”
