West Lothian grandfather to climb highest peaks to raise funds for his disabled grandson

A West Lothian grandfather is climbing nine of the UK’s highest mountains to raise funds for his two-year-old grandson Harris who suffers from a rare genetic condition.

Little Harris Turnbull from Whitburn has 1P36 deletion syndrome which causes global development delay and severe epilepsy. He is unable to sit unaided, is non-verbal and tube-fed. His family would like to take him for intensive physiotherapy at Footsteps Centre in Oxford this summer where he would have two hours of therapy every day for two weeks. With travel and accommodation, this will cost around £6,000, and the family would like to repeat the treatment as often as possible.

His grandad, Roger Turnbull, 56, a commercial vehicle sales and service manager, is fundraising for Harris by climbing six Scottish peaks in honour of each letter of Harris’s name – Ben Hope, Arthur, Ruadh, Resipol, Ime and Schiehallion – plus the UK’s highest mountains, Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon, to climb a combined height of 8,849 metres.

He said: “Of course any grandparent would do anything and everything possible for their grandchild, but in Harris’ case a little more loving care, consideration and support is required every day to help him fulfil and hopefully exceed his current abilities. What I’ve decided to do is indeed daunting and at times physically challenging, but actually it’s nothing in comparison to what Harris and his family goes through every day.”

Roger is also currently organising a fundraising event for Harris at The Clutha in Glasgow to be held on May 27. Harris’s family is being supported by children’s charity Tree of Hope which helps families fundraise for children like Harris with healthcare needs where the NHS can’t offer support. Roger added: "With your kind support and backing via the Tree of Hope charity we can help make Harris’ life and other similar disabled children’s experience a little bit more pleasurable and that will make every step and every ache worthwhile towards our goal. Thank you.”

Harris’s mum Louise, 29, an event manager and retail worker, who shares two other children with her husband Cameron, 31, an IT analyst, said: “We are very lucky to have such supportive friends and family and are so grateful to Roger for what he’s doing. Every child with 1P36 deletion syndrome has different issues so we don’t really know what the future holds for Harris. But clearly the more strength and mobility he can achieve, the better quality of life he will have, which is why we are so keen that he has this specialised physiotherapy.”

Gill Gibb, chief executive of Tree of Hope, said: "We wish Roger all the best with his impressive challenge.”