Ex-Ashurst associate hopes to raise £150k
A blind solicitor is aiming to climb 24 mountain peaks in just 24 hours to raise funds for charity.
Michael Smith, a former associate at Ashurst who now works in-house at Revantage Real Estate and is registered blind with 10% vision, will be joined on the epic challenge by his boss, Jack Stacey.
The duo hope to cover around 28 miles, ascend a total of 12,000 feet, and raise £150,000 for the charity SeeAbility in the process. The charity offers support for those who live with sight loss or those who have a learning disability or autism.
Smith, who has Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON), a condition causing central vision loss, will be tethered to Stacey next month as they attempt to climb the 24 mountain peaks in the Lake District.
Commenting on the challenge ahead, Smith said: “In a great way, it’s a metaphor showing people in life that you’ve got all this great technology out there to help people now who can’t see terribly well, but you always need that human touch with you.”
He continued: “Jack, I trust tremendously at work, but I’m going to have to trust him even more when we’re summiting these peaks in 24 hours across the Lake District, so it’s going to require a huge amount of focus, concentration and communication the whole way through.”
Smith said he first noticed his vision changing between 2009 and 2010 while playing football and was later diagnosed with LHON.
Fearing he wouldn’t be able to “live a very fulfilling life going forward,” Smith explained how SeeAbility helped to “bring my hopes and dreams back,” enabling him to return to university to study and train to become a lawyer.
“I want to just show, despite my lack of sight, with a bit of help from Jack, I can summit 24 peaks and push my body to the limit like everyone else can,” Smith added.