We were privileged to talk to Andy Reid, the first triple amputee from the UK to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. The war veteran lost both legs and an arm in Afghanistan, and was able to break two world records to commemorate the thirteen year anniversary of his injury.

 

What prompted you to climb Mount Kilimanjaro? 

 

I actually climbed the mountain when I was about 22 years old, when I was still serving in the army before I was injured. I just wanted to see if I could do it again now as an injured veteran, to see if I could still push my body and my mind to the limits. 

 

Did you have any moments of doubt?

 

No, because I had put a lot of work into it, a lot of training into it, and I also had a fantastic medical team around me so I had a lot of confidence in them. I knew I had the mental strength to get to the top; I just had to hope that the technology within my limbs would hold up. 

 

Were there any unexpected hurdles whilst going up?

 

The main difficulty was that my left leg has a microprocessor inside it which needs charging, and it only lasts five days when fully charged. It takes fourteen days to climb the mountain, so we had to take power packs with us. When it gets cold at night, down to -10 to -15 degrees, the batteries lose power, so we had to use hand warmers to keep them warm and put them inside socks and things like that. So there were a lot of technical things going on; it wasn’t just about me working hard or having the strength, we had to make sure we had the correct support around us as well. 

 

Have you completed challenges like this before?

 

I’ve done a 400 mile bike ride, kayaking challenges, and one year I christened my little girl on the anniversary. It doesn’t always have to be an event or physical challenge, just something that makes me feel good, so I can look back to thirteen years ago on that day of being injured and have some happy memories, so it doesn’t always have to just be the day I was injured. 

 

What was the second world record you broke?

 

We delivered a hamburger to the top of the mountain— the world’s highest food delivery on land, a Guinness world record. Uber Eats paid quite a bit of sponsorship towards the Standing Tall Foundation for us to do that, and it added a bit of fun for us. The burger was made by Ollie’s burgers in Manchester. It was a vegan burger and it was vacuum packed so when we got it to the top of the mountain one or two people ate it. 

 

What do you think your next adventure is going to be?

 

I will do another challenge next year, because every year I do on the day which a lot of guys call Happy Alive Day, so obviously I have to do something to make me feel alive, to prove to others that lots can still be achieved beyond injury. So on Happy Alive Day I like to do some kind of challenge. I am not quite sure what it will be next yet, but I might do a humanitarian challenge where I go to a deprived country and maybe deliver some kind of medical support instead of doing something physical.