I was staggered today. Gobsmacked. It takes a lot for that to happen to me. I also know what a horrible, destructive, irrepressible illness cancer is. Here’s why I mention this:

There was a donation today on my charity page for Bowel Cancer UK:

http://www.justgiving.com/Chris-Kilimanjaro2010

from a gentleman (that word understates him, his generosity, and just how magnanimous, and indeed magnificent he is) for £250. Better than that, he did it unanimously, with a false name. The word ‘respect’ is so incredibly small here as to be almost worthless. I bow down to this act with an incredible humility, an unworthiness in fact on my part.

It has made me outrageously emotional tonight.

That gets me up the mountain, if I can beat the will of all those quirks of fate that I trust do not conspire against me.

Far more importantly, that is what I strive for, to be the sort of person that he is. And that is what the mountain has brought me.

I will never actually forget how I feel at this very moment. Ever.