A man who was left paralysed eight years ago will attempt to reach Mount Everest base camp on crutches.
Jamie McAnsh, from Cwmbran, Torfaen, South Wales, suffers from complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), a condition which causes persistent severe and debilitating pain.
Mr McAnsh says he has dreamed of climbing the world's highest mountain ever since he was a child. His trip had orginally been planed for 2020 but was delayed twice because of the Covid pandemic.
But it has now been reorganised and he is scheduled to leave for for Nepal on Tuesday and will be accompanied by a small team.
Mr McAnsh says one of the reasons he is attempting the climb is to raise awareness about CRPS.
Speaking about his own illness, he said he went to bed as "normal" on 6 January 2014 but woke up the next morning unable to move from the waist down.
It took another 13 months for him to be diagnosed with CRPS.
"Everest has been a dream since I was seven years old," he told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.
"I often say it was shattered in 2014 when I woke up paralysed and I remember thinking to myself 'why didn't I do it earlier, why did I not just go and do it?'.”
He added: "When I was going through physio they said I needed a goal, I needed something to work towards and I said, 'well I've got a goal, I want to climb Everest'".
Using specially adapted crutches, Mr McAnsh estimates that it will take him 10 days to reach base camp.
