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Halifax dad Ben Moorhouse completes Rhodes mountain climb

Halifax dad Ben Moorhouse completes Rhodes mountain climb

BBC News4 days ago
A Halifax man has completed two extraordinary physical challenges, amounting to 170 miles (274km), in memory of his baby daughter.Ben Moorhouse walked non-stop from the Angel of the North in Gateshead to Manchester on 12 July, before boarding a plane a week later to the Greek island of Rhodes, where he climbed a mountain 50 times over the course of 13 hours.The 42-year-old's daughter, Kallipateira, was stillborn at 37 weeks in 2018.Mr Moorhouse, who has raised more than £13,000 from the challenge, said he wanted to open up conversations around baby loss to help other grieving parents.
The money raised will go to Tommy's Rainbow Clinic in Manchester to fund research into preventing stillbirths.Mr Moorhouse's partner Gaynor Thomson gave birth to their son Apollon there in 2020.Mr Moorhouse said he managed to complete both challenges with the help of some "Yorkshire grit and determination".
He said: "It was a massive mental test, but we managed to get through both."At the moment there's a Greek heatwave so temperatures were 40C and above."There was no shade whatsoever."It was absolutely brutal."My feet were aching quite a bit last night and my knee was swollen."But compared to what some people in the world are dealing with, it's trivial."The power of love for my daughter kept me going when the going got tough."I just reminded myself why I was doing it."Mr Moorhouse is no stranger to extreme physical challenges, having completed several over the last decade. But his preparation for this task was complicated by injury, as he damaged cruciate ligaments in his right knee just nine weeks beforehand, hampering his training plans.He could not even walk in a straight line until four weeks beforehand.But despite suffering "severe cramps" in his calf on Prophet Elias Monastery Mountain, he managed to complete his 50th and final ascent just after 19:00 local time (17:00 BST) on Sunday.Mr Moorhouse, who works for a housing association, said: "I don't very often say I'm proud of myself because I'm quite humble about what I do, but I gave myself a pat on the back when I finished, because it's been a tough year with injury."
He and Miss Thomson set up the Kallipateira Moorhouse Foundation to fund the research at Tommy's Rainbow Clinic, which they said would benefit parents across the UK. The clinic offers specialist care for women who have suffered a previous stillbirth or neonatal death.Mr Moorhouse said the subject of stillbirths was often "brushed under the carpet" and that friends and neighbours of grieving parents often struggled to know how to help. "To put yourself in that person's shoes, I understand, is such a difficult thing to do," he said."But this happens every single day to parents all around the UK."You don't have to have a big conversation about what's happened, just a simple acknowledgement to say, 'I'm thinking of you, I'm here if you need anything'."Not saying something is far worse than saying something you think is wrong."
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Woman given her independence back after leg amputated
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Woman given her independence back after leg amputated

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Woman who suffered from painful periods for years shares simple trick that completely cured her cramps
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‘Exactly what a union should be doing': doctors in Manchester defend strike action
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  • The Guardian

‘Exactly what a union should be doing': doctors in Manchester defend strike action

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'Our hope was that we would have a sense of conversation around restoring our pay over time, and that's what Wes Streeting was saying in opposition, and the deal that we thought we'd made, or we had made, last year was going to be the basis, a foundation for more discussion, more conversation going forward, and that's what's not happening.' Datta added: 'These are some of the brightest young people. I've been talking now to some of them. Some of them want to be cancer specialists, some of them want to be emergency medicine specialists, some of them want to be psychiatrists. 'If we can't get these people to stay in this country and the NHS specifically, then the NHS is doomed, frankly.' Sign up to Headlines UK Get the day's headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion Dr Ross Nieuwoudt, a BMA resident doctors committee co-chair who has been among those leading the industrial action, joined the Manchester picket line. 'We're not asking for everything all at once,' he said. 'All we want is for Wes Streeting to keep his promise of restoring our pay as a journey. The 0.9% increase above inflation that was given this year is not an adequate step in that journey. So that's why we're out today. 'I must be honest, I'm very disappointed, I expected more. I think when [Streeting] initially came in, there were lots of grand words about settling the strikes and this journey to restoring our pay, but when the time came to deliver on the second step he couldn't do it.' Nieuwoudt also pointed out that when resident doctors – then known as junior doctors – walked out under the Conservative government, Streeting was a vocal backer of the striking medics and called on the then health secretary to take action to bring about an end to the dispute. 'I'm wondering where that man is now,' Nieuwoudt said. 'He was making some good points.' 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