A MARY Tavy woman will embark on the trip of a lifetime later this year when she attempts to climb to the summit of Mount Kenya.

Julie McCabe, proprietor of Muralto Nursing Home in Tavistock, is making the trek to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

The charity builds and equips specialist units for teenagers suffering from cancer, enabling them to be treated alongside their peers instead of being in hospital wards with toddlers or elderly people.

Julie, aged 41, said: 'I walk every week on the moors and when I saw an advert in the Telegraph, I thought it was something that I could do.'

Julie said her mother suffered from cancer, and as a special anniversary trek up Mt Kilimanjaro had to be cancelled this particular trip inspired her to go.

Her great adventure begins on October 12 when she will join the party for the nine-day trudge up the mountain to a height of 16,355 feet, sleeping under canvas and tackling both forest and mountainous terrain.

'Obviously I think the altitude will be hard, you can get a lot of sickness and headaches. It can be that the least fit can be the one who doesn't get it, you just don't know, it's a very strange thing,' she said.

'The hardest thing for me is going to be going off on my own and leaving my family,' said Julie.

She has been given an equipment list which indicates the weather will be hot during the day, and extremely cold at night.

The only thing she is unsure about is the clear instruction to take ear-plugs.

'I haven't sorted that one out yet!' she said.

Although Julie is not looking forward to the discomfort of altitude sickness or the lack of even the most basic of bathroom facilities, she said the thought of the youngsters she is raising money for would keep her going.

'My daughter was crying the other day when I read her the letter from the Trust.

'Imagine being sixteen and having cancer, not only having bad hair days but no hair days,' said Julie.

'It does bring it home to you what they suffer — whatever I'm going to endure will be nothing in comparison. I think the whole thing is going to be a totally different experience,' she said.

Julie has to raise £2,500 to take part in the trek, and has a number of fundraising events lined up including a bingo night, a duck race, a mufti day at St Peter's School in Tavistock, a summer barbecue at Muralto House and a Chinese auction at Mary Tavy Coronation Hall this Saturday.

'People are being wonderful, everybody I've approached has been willing to help,' said Julie.

Anyone who would like to sponsor Julie McCabe, or donate a prize for Muralto House's summer barbecue, can contact her on 01822 810026.