‘I couldn’t believe it when we reached the summit, it was just amazing’

A heroic young girl from Trim who reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro despite having undergone scoliosis corrective surgery just 18 months previously says the expedition was a 'dream come true.'

In August 2018, Inspirational Moya Gilligan (16) and ten other young people all aged between 15 and 18 suffering from the debilitating condition took on the mammoth challenge of tackling the 5,895m peak in Tanzania training physically and mentally for five months despite having no previous climbing experience.

Reaching Stella Point, one of the three summits of Africa's highest mountain on the Lemosho route was a milestone moment for the fearless student who says she once 'struggled to even walk' due to the excruciating condition. 

The group were recently chosen as the overall Winners of the 'Patient Lifestyle Education Project of the Year' in the Irish Healthcare Awards 2019 for their project, compiled and submitted by Kilimanjaro Achievers coordinator, Dr Padraig Sheeran, titled 'Physical Challenge for the Physically Challenged'.

Each teenager had an incredible story to tell about their battle with significant health challenges over the past few years, all of which makes their achievements even more astonishing.

 Kilimanjaro Achievers reaching the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania 

Moya a fifth-year student in Scoil Mhuire Trim, Co, Meath was diagnosed with Scoliosis when she was 12, a condition that curves the spine manifesting itself most often during the growth spurt just before a child reaches puberty. The devastating blow came just as the resilient teenager was recovering from hip surgery as a result of a slipped upper femoral epiphysis, a condition that left her unable to walk.

"I was just getting over my hip surgery In 2015 when I was diagnosed with scoliosis. It showed on the first spinal x-ray that my curve was at 37 degrees but within 12 months the curve progressed to 90 degrees. It hadn't been bothering me before I was diagnosed but it was just like once I knew I had it that overnight it got worse.

"It was really painful, I could hardly walk. I'd come home from school and be just exhausted it really took it a lot out of me. I wasn't able to do normal things that my friends were doing which was really tough at the time.

The climbers tackling the  5,895m peak

When Moya was asked by Dr Padraig Sheeran, dean of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland’s (RCSI’s) faculty of sports and exercise medicine, asked if she’d like to take part in an expedition to climb Kilimanjaro with her peers in August, she jumped at the chance.

She commented that being involved in the Kilimanjaro Achievers trip, an Irish not-for-profit organisation that brings people of all ages and abilities to climb the African peak was a poignant reminder of how far the keen climber had come describing the experience it as 'life-changing.'

She said:

"We did seven months of intense training every weekend in Glendalough, Croagh Patrick and the Mourne Mountains to prepare for the climb, learning the correct breathing and preparing for the conditions we were going to be facing.

Arriving in Tanzania was 'overwhelming' according to the brave Trim teenager.

"I think when we got there it was just disbelief because we had been talking about it for so long that it didn't seem real. We did six days climbing up and two days climbing down to acclimatise to the different altitudes. We'd climb all day and before we went to bed we'd start going back down but still getting a bit of distance. In the end, it really helped with the symptoms of altitude sickness.

Each participant had a guide and a porter accompanying them 

"We prepared for the physical challenge but it when we got over there I felt very emotional. It's such a big thing to do and the fact that I was so far from home was daunting. It was the first time that I had ever been away from home on my own.

"Meeting the group was such a help to me because I was with people who understood what I was going through because it's so hard to explain to anyone who hasn't been through it. We were able to talk about our condition with each other and ask each other questions.

"Training so intensely we got to know each other really well and they were the people you were depending on to get you through it.

Dr Sheeran who goes there every second year said conditions that year were the worst he had ever seen.

"It was freezing, I was wearing three pairs of socks and gloves and I still couldn't feel my toes.

"As we got to the top it was so hard to put one foot in front of the other, you could feel your eyes closing but my guide, Peter, kept saying to me don't stop. I actually just couldn't believe it when we reached the summit, it was just amazing. I never thought with all I have gone through that I'd ever be able to do something like that." 

The gutsy Meath girl says it was a long road to recovery but now she sees life from a different perspective quite literally.

"When I was recovering I'd get up and I'd go out for a walk in my estate with my dad and every day I'd reach another house and the next day I'd go a little further and eventually I got to the end of the road.

"On those walks, I remember saying to my dad I'm actually seeing things from a different perspective because my body was at a completely different angle with my scoliosis curve, I was looking at the ground all of the time but now I'm looking up and I'm seeing the world differently."