Cambridge teen to climb Kilimanjaro for local charity

A teenager from Cambridge is to climb more than 18,000 feet to the summit of the Mount Kilimanjaro - to raise money for charity in memory of his mum who died of a brain tumour.

Jake Long, who's 19, will set off on his climb, which he estimates will take around one week, with his friends Ollie Turner and Louie Harhalakis.

Jake has already raised more than £13,000 for the children’s brain tumour charity Tom’s Trust, which he’s done in memory of his mum Katy, who died of a brain tumour last year.

As the tallest mountain in Africa, standing at 19,340ft, and thought to be the fourth highest mountain in the world, Jake has been training for the climb by going to the gym five times a week and trekking in South America at high altitudes while travelling on a gap year.

Jake, who is from Cambridge, said:

“I’m very nervous, but also really excited to get going and I’ve bought all my gear, so I’m set to go. We’ll be going right to the summit at Stella Point, which is at 18,885 feet. We’ll be wearing our Tom’s Trust vests at the top. My mum died just as I finished my A Levels, so I wanted to fundraise for a charity I knew she loved. I was determined to do some fundraising and I know she’d think this was a really positive way to go about it.”

Katy, who was a teacher at the The Stephen Pearse Foundation school in Cambridge, was diagnosed with a gliosarcoma at the start of August 2020 and was given just 18 months to live.

Jake was 18 and at The Leys School in Cambridge, along with his brother Harry, who was just 16 and had just finished his GCSEs, when Katy died on 11th July 2022.

She was able to hear that Jake had got into Oxford University before she died, where he will be studying Law from October.

Jake and his Mum, Katy.

Jake and his brother both went to St Faith’s School in Cambridge before going to The Leys, which is where Tom Whiteley, who Tom’s Trust is named after, went to before he died from a brain tumour at the age of nine in 2010. His parents set up the charity in his name.

Debs Mitchell, Tom’s mum and Co-Founder of Tom’s Trust, said:

“Celebrating Katy’s life in such an incredible way is not only important but incredibly brave. We can’t thank Jake, Ollie and Louie enough for all their incredible fundraising for Tom’s Trust. We are in awe of them taking on such a challenge for us and wish them the very best of luck in climbing Kilimanjaro.”

To donate to Jake’s fundraising page, go to www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Jake-Long3

To find out more about Tom’s Trust go to www.tomstrust.org.uk