Princes Risborough: Woman gets ready for Everest trek despite Crohn's

Princes Risborough resident Becky West, 26, was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease at the age of 15 after two years of being extremely unwell.

She is still coming to terms with the life-long symptoms that come with inflammatory bowel disease, including severe fatigue, pain, urgency, diarrhoea, joint pain and mouth ulcers on a daily basis, and taking medications with immune system weakening side effects. 

She said: “It took me a long time to accept it and also to be able to speak about it openly and honestly, something that I still struggle with today.”

Now Becky is raising money to trek to Mt Everest base camp over three weeks in bid to make Crohn’s Diseases more visible.

Becky's dog Charlie won't be able to join her on the Everest challenge (Image: Becky West)

When she was diagnosed, she “didn’t even know what it was”.

She explained: “I want to raise awareness that not all health conditions are visible.

“I’m struggling every single day but I want to help people to be more mindful. And to show diagnosis doesn’t have to be the end of your life.

“Where there’s a will there’s a way as my grandmother used to say.”

The looming Everest challenge in October is “already proving a medical challenge” because of the insurance and hiking high altitude. The Everest base camp sits at 5,364 meters, while the world's tallest peak Mt Everest measurs 8,849 meters. 

Living with the condition means during periods of remission Becky can’t sometimes leave her bed.

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“With all my symptoms, I know this challenge is going to be extremely tough, not only do I need to train to be fit enough to complete the challenge, I need to ensure that my health is managed and I am prepared to tackle every symptom in the mountains.”

For someone with a bowel disease, sorting out a travel insurance can be a struggle.

“It took me six hours of browsing to finally find a company!”

But there was no way to give up at the first hurdle, which is the message she wants to send.

“It’s a massive physical challenge, and it will be such a great achievement personally but also for the community of people with inflammatory bowel disease.

“There’s so much support available for anybody who’s living with that illness, and the support from the NHS has been amazing. The inflammatory disease team are brilliant and they’ve helped me so much.

“I want to give back to the charity but also I want to raise awareness.

“hope that sharing this journey with you will also further allow me to accept and give me confidence to speak openly about my illness,” she added.

Becky's fundraiser for Crohn's & Colitis UK can be found here.