By Julie Armstrong

Published at 09:20, Saturday, 28 June 2008

A TEAM have kayaked and cycled across Scotland and scaled Britain’s highest mountain to help a four-year-old girl who needs prosthetic legs.

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The band of former marines raised £7,000 by completing the Great Glen Challenge in just 47 hours.

The seven men – five from Carlisle – rallied round to help after hearing the tale of Olivia Story, who contracted meningitis two years ago and had to have two legs and an arm amputated to save her life.

Fundraisers have raised £30,000 for the Olivia Story Trust set up in 2006.

Olivia’s mum, Kim Brown, 28, of London Road, Carlisle, said: “The trust will help Olivia in the future. Up until now the NHS has provided everything she needs, but now she is starting to have problems so we might have to start buying things.

“Although her legs had to be amputated, the bones still grow and it’s quite painful for her, so she may have to have an operation to trim the bones.”

Her dad Mike Story, 32, said: “A pair of legs is in the region of £12,000 privately, and she’s had to have six pairs this year. They enable her to lead as normal a life as possible and she’s still very cheerful.

“We never thought our daughter would be able to walk properly again, let alone bounce on her beloved trampoline.”

Oil-rig worker Calum Cormack was one of the men who kayaked 63 miles over three lochs from Fort William to Inverness, before cycling back across the country and climbing to the summit of Ben Nevis.

Calum, 35, said: “Everybody seemed to enjoy it. It was pouring with rain and we got no sleep whatsoever because of some lunatics having a party on a barge and Mark snoring.

“Then a couple of the lads, both really good bikers who had struggled a little bit with the kayaking, decided they had a point to prove and set off like there was no tomorrow. For me the fatigue really set in when we set off up Ben Nevis. It was a bit of an epic getting to the top – the weather was pretty severe with winds gusting 50 to 60mph, very low visibility and a lot of snow on top.”

The other Carlisle men taking part were: oil rig workers Rob Bryson, 44, and Gareth Wade, 44; Mark Carruthers, 30, who works for Border Construction in Carlisle; and Alun Jones, 33.

You can donate online at www.oliviastory.co.uk.

JArmstrong@cngroup.co.uk

Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk