Burnley parish councillor is scaling the heights to raise awareness of devastating disease

Five years ago Andy Devanney would have struggled to walk to the top of the stairs without stopping twice.
Andy (front) with his pal Stewart Bromwich after they completed the walk from Worsthorne to the top of Pendle Hill for World Kidney Day.Andy (front) with his pal Stewart Bromwich after they completed the walk from Worsthorne to the top of Pendle Hill for World Kidney Day.
Andy (front) with his pal Stewart Bromwich after they completed the walk from Worsthorne to the top of Pendle Hill for World Kidney Day.

But last week he completed the trek from his home in Worsthorne to the top of Pendle Hill.

And he had a very special reason for completing the challenge. It was to raise cash for World Kidney Day.

For Andy lost a kidney five years ago following an illness.

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The 43-year-old Worsthorne parish councillor said: "You don’t realise how important your kidneys are until something goes wrong with them.

"So, as it was World Kidney day, we decided to walk to the top of Pendle from my home in Worsthorne.

"I appreciate that it's not exactly Mount Kilimanjaro but five years ago, I couldn’t climb to the top of the stairs without stopping twice. Since then I’ve walked to the top of Boulsworth, Hameldon and Thieveley Pike from home so Pendle was the next on the list.”

Andy was joined by his lifelong pal Stewart Bromwich, a firefighter in Bispham.

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Andy added: “Me and Stew can regularly be found trekking across the moors of Lancashire.

"So, we thought we’d try and raise a few quid at the same time and the response from friends was amazing.

"I’ve raised nearly £800 in total to date for Kidney Research UK. After having four blood transfusions anda kidney removed it’s my way of trying to give a little back.”

As a result of his illness Andy lost six-and-a-half-stone but his kidney function is now back to 100 percent.

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The theme for World Kidney Day was Kidney Health for Everyone Everywhere and is about encouraging countries to invest in health care to help treat the millions of people affected by it.

Latest estimates from the Global Burden of Disease Studies show kidney disease as the 12th leading cause of death worldwide, ahead of tuberculosis, HIV and malaria.

Further information can be found www.kidneyresearchuk.org or if you would like to donate to Andy’s cause go to https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/andy-devanney