Halifax amputee one of four people set to climb third highest volcano in the world

Ben Lovell and his wife Laura, from Queensbury, aim to improve the lives of amputees by operating a retreat in Tenerife, for which they run a series of fundraising ventures.

Ben lost his leg in 2017 through an undiagnosed blood clot and subsequently struggled with his mental health, experiencing suicidal thoughts.

But he has since been determined to try and help others going through what he has experienced.

Ben and Laura will be joined on their climb of Mount Teide, in Tenerife, by Debbie McQuat and Paul Ellis and will be supported by a team of of walkers.

Ben, Debbie and Paul all have limb differences. Ben will attempting the climb on one leg, Paul will be crawling and Debbie will be the first female amputee to the summit.

Paul has previously crawled the national three peaks, raising money for the amp camp project.

Ben and Laura created their rehabilitation camp in Tenerife, and welcome guests to spend a week listening to Ben and sharing their own experiences, while also benefitting from a personal chief, nutritionist, fitness programme and being able to work on all the things they need to help them move forward with their new life.

"We have now secured funding to help with bringing the cost down and fully funding some people," said Laura.

"As mental health is a huge part of losing a limb, we work a lot on mindset and encouraging positivity and have had prosthetic centres contact us to express the difference they have seen in patients that attend their clinics after just one week with us.

"We have already had over 40 families attend our camps."

Ben and Laura have also created amp camp kids, which has seen six children, who have all suffered amputation issues, sent to the camp with their families for free.

"The camp is aimed at fun," Laura said, "giving them back a piece of childhood that lots of them missed out on due to having so many treatments and hospital visits, but also allowing siblings and parents to join and makes some lovely memories together.

"We are working with the Steven Gerard Foundation in Tenerife to put on Paralympic style sports days and already use their facilities for training days, giving the children the opportunity to experience life as a Paralympian.

"We are now awaiting our charity number which will be the main drive of fundraising for the camps.

"Hopefully we will be mentoring and giving talks in schools regarding diversity and inclusion for disabilities."

The volcano climb is part of this year's fundraising programme for the camps.

So far, Ben's fundraising efforts have included climbing seven mountains, sky diving from 15,000 feet and completing the Yorkshire three peaks and the national three peaks.

"We intend to continue fundraising this year and have some incredible ideas in the pipeline," said Laura.

"Often we find that other amputees want to join us in the climbs and challenges and it’s a really heart warming thing to come together and support each other.

"Although we have completed some pretty tough challenges nothing is as big as the next one.

"We'll be climbing through the night, 3,715 metres, to complete it in 24 hours.

"The altitude is different, giving the body more work, and the terrain is incredibly changeable."

For more information, visit www.theampcamp.com.