A West Lothian woman has climbed Ben Nevis in memory of her brother who she lost to suicide - raising money for a local mental health charity in the process.
Charlene Elvin climbed the highest mountain in Scotland to raise money for Neil’s Hug’s Foundation, a West Lothian mental health charity that supported her family following the loss of her brother.
Charlene lost her brother, Billy Abernathy, in 2020 and spent just over a year thinking of the best way to honour his memory.
It was decided she and some family and friends would climb Ben Nevis and have a drink at the top for Billy.
Eight people climbed Ben Nevis for Billy to support Neil’s Hugs Foundation including Charlene and her husband, Charlene’s sister-in-law and her fiancé, and friends of the family.
It was decided they would take on the mountain as Billy had always said he could carry a keg of beer all the way up Ben Nevis and drink it at the top.
Charlene said: ”Climbing Ben Nevis was always something my brother wanted to do and we all wanted to do something to remember him by and raise money for a good cause at the same time.
“It took a wee while for me to figure something out, but after chatting with friends and family, we decided we would spend the weekend taking on Ben Nevis and have a drink in his memory.
“He always said he could carry a keg of beer up there and drink it at the top, so we thought there would be no better way to keep his memory than climbing Ben Nevis and having a drink for him.
“It took me the whole day on Saturday to climb it, around eight hours probably, and I was really struggling at times. To be honest I probably would have quit if it wasn’t for such a great cause.”
So far the efforts of Charlene, her friends and family has raised £855 for Neil’s Hugs.
And Charlene said the day was a special way to remember her brother.
She added: “It was a good laugh with everyone there on the way up and on the way back down we had a few people ask us about the t-shirts we had on with my brother’s face on them - some people even donated then and there!
“I chose to support Neil’s Hugs Foundation as I’ve known their founder Donna for years now. We used to work together in the casino. I was around when she lost her son to suicide, and she was so supportive of me and my family after Billy died.”
To support Charlene’s campaign in memory of Billy for the Neil’s Hugs Foundation, you can do so here
Neil’s Hugs Foundation offers free support to families affected by suicide, their services can accessed here
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