Amputee raises hundreds climbing Glastonbury Tor

Jacqui Hill took on Glastonbury Tor last Wednesday (August 29) raising hundreds for charity.

This may sound like a leisurely stroll to some but Jacqui is not your average hiker.

She has suffered from diabetes for 28 years and in the last 12 months has gone through three major operations; a lower leg amputation, quadruple heart bypass and finally a kidney and pancreas transplant.

So for Jacqui this arduous trek was no walk in the park.

Since completing the inspirational climb, she has been chosen as a finalist for the Heart of Somerset awards in the Brave Heart Hero category.

This hike was not the only active challenge Jacqui has decided to take on after her long stretch in hospital. She is now well enough to go canoeing with her husband and has recently joined a gym.

Jacqui, who lives in the Boardwalk, Street, admitted to This is Somerset last month that after being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 16, she regularly neglected the medical steps she needed to take in order to stay healthy:

"I was at that age when I didn't really take it seriously. I didn't think anything was really ever going to happen to me.

"So I didn't take insulin regularly and I didn't look after myself.

"It wasn't until much later I realised the harm that I had done to myself, the abuse that my organs suffered."

Just over six months ago Jacqui went through a double kidney and pancreas transplant that meant she no longer has to cope with dialysis day in day out and she no longer suffers from diabetes.

She now has a prosthetic leg and is learning to walk again. This is the first time in ten years she has felt well enough to climb Glastonbury Tor:

"It is a dream come true," she said.

"A few months ago Chris and I walked up Burrow Mump and it was amazing, something I hadn't been able to do for many, many years.

"I've been canoeing with Chris and I have joined Strode gym on a GP referral scheme and am walking on the treadmill."

Jacqui climbed the Tor, determined to raise awareness and give something back to the people who have supported and helped her through her disability.

The money she raised will be reaching a number of worthy causes including research into organ transplantation, Exeter Mobility Centre, the Dialysis Unit at Taunton and Diabetes Care at Musgrove Park Hospital.

Jacqui's long-term goal however is to help young people who suffer from diabetes; educating them based on knowledge from her own experiences and supporting them through the difficulties they face.

Jacqui's online fundraising page received £360 in donations, however the total raised is unknown as yet, as she has received funds from personal sponsors through Strode gym.