A BRADFORD-based golf professional is taking on a gruelling charity trek to Mount Everest base camp with his dad in honour of his daughter.
Dane Bairstow, 32, is raising money for the National Autistic Society, the UK’s leading charity for autistic people. His little girl, four-year-old Lila, has autism, cannot talk and is profoundly deaf in her left ear.
Dane and Trevor, 67, are taking on the challenge in September, with the former taking a month off from playing on the professional golf circuit.
Dane, of Queensbury, says the charity trek is out of his comfort zone but he is looking forward to taking on the test with his father.
The pair will begin their epic trek on September 6 and have launched an online Justgiving fundraising page to raise funds.
They have set an initial £2,420 fundraising target for their epic climb.
Dane, who is a member of Clayton Golf Club, says he will have Lila spurring him on every step of the gruelling trek.
He said: “I’m very excited. It’s well out of my comfort zone.
“I’ve no idea what it’s going to be like. I’m going into the unknown.
“The reason for doing this is I have a daughter that suffers with autism and would really like to raise as much money as possible.
“I did the Three Peaks last week as part of my training. It’s great to be getting to do something like this with my dad.
“I didn’t know what it entailed at first, but every day you have to walk five miles and then go back a mile to help you to acclimatise to the altitude.
“I thought I wanted to do something with my dad and to do it for charity too.
“I’m used to being on golf courses, not climbing mountains.
It’s something really different for me to do and I’m really looking forward to it
“Autism is just a really hard thing to understand and it’s just a hard situation. It’s a really stressful time if Lila is poorly.
“We’re so lucky to be able to lead normal everyday lives. I hope my little help can make a little difference in a good way.
“She is pretty severe with it, but she is a very happy girl and she never stops giggling.
“Lila was diagnosed really early, about a year ago when she was three.
“Queensbury Golf Club is probably the highest I have ever been before.”
Everest Base Camp in Nepal is located on the Khumbu Glacier at the foot of Mount Everest. It is at an altitude of 5,600 metres and will take Dane and Trevor nine days to complete.
Dane is also set to make a swift return to competing on the golf circuit when he returns from Everest, with a competition in Scotland lined up for the start of October.
His announcement about his charity challenge comes just ahead of World Autism Awareness Day, which is tomorrow. It is an internationally recognised day, held on April 2 every year, urging countries in the United Nations to take measures to raise awareness about people with autistic spectrum disorders, including autism.
Go to justgiving.com/fundraising/dane-bairstow to make a donation to the charity climb.
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