Muirs the merrier after charity trek for Parkinson’s disease

Muirs joined former Scotland rugby captain Gavin Hastings, reigning Miss Scotland Jennifer Reoch and Bryn Williams, who organised the climb to raise money for and awareness of Parkinson’s disease.

Williams is a patent attorney with Marks & Clerk and lives in Bearsden, Glasgow, with his wife Vicky and their two daughters.

A partner and solicitor advocate at law firm Balfour+Manson, Muirs is a friend of Williams, who set up the Wobbly Williams website after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2007 when he was 36 years old. Gavin Hastings’ wife Diane has also been diagnosed with the condition.

“It was one of the hardest things I have ever done and I would never have been able to do it if it hadn’t have been for the entire team,” said Muirs. “Every morning before we set off, the guides would sing to us, then Gavin Hastings would give us a team talk and that really did keep us all going throughout the day.

“The altitude was the most challenging thing to deal with and almost everyone was affected, some people had to take oxygen at the top to help them to keep going.

“It was so hard. On the climb to the summit, everyone was taking baby steps as that was all we could do. I thought I would never get there as I was going so slowly. The guides were just amazing and were always there to help when we needed it.

“I was so tired I couldn’t even get my hand out of my glove, the guides had to help me. All I could do was walk and breathe.”

The group reached Gilman’s Point, some 900ft below the summit, on 17 January in honour of Muhammad Ali, who celebrated his 70th birthday on that day. The world’s most famous boxer was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease when he was 42.

Hastings said: “This has been one of the most challenging and enjoyable weeks of my life. The camaraderie with the team was just fantastic and undoubtedly contributed to the whole trip. It was just amazing that 28 of us reached Gilman’s Point, and 20 went up to Uhuru Peak.”

After establishing Wobbly Williams, Williams last year founded Funding Neuro, a charity which is financing trials of a system for delivering chemotherapy to treat brain tumours and a treatment for Parkinson’s disease at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol.

The Wobbly Williams team has already raised £400,000 for research, of which £140,000 is from the Kilimanjaro climb. All cash raised by Funding Neuro will be used to try to advance the cure for neurological disorders including Parkinson’s disease, brain tumours, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, and motor neurone disease.

Although there have been various Wobbly Williams fund-raising walks and marathons since 2008, the Kilimanjaro trek has been the biggest undertaken by Williams and his friends, who included a 15-year-old girl and people in their 60s.

Williams added: “Fiona has been on all the Wobbly adventures from the West Highland Way to Hadrian’s Wall, via the Great Glen and the Antrim coast. She has been a fantastic supporter of our cause and I am over the moon she was with us on Kili.”

• For more information or to support the charity go to www.justgiving.com/fiona-muirs, www.wobblywilliams.com/greatestclimb.html, and www.fundingneuro.com