Leamington man with Cerebral Palsy to climb Everest on horseback

Max Stainton, who suffers from Cerebral Palsy, has set up the Riding Everest project to challenge perceptions of disabled people and to raise funds for the Riding for the Disabled Association’s (RDA’s) new National Training Centre in Shrewley, near Warwick.

Max, who grew up in Leamington, was born with Cerebral Palsy as the result of complications at birth and the condition means he needs support in every aspect of his daily life.

Max attended RDA’s centre in Stratford from age five until he went to university.

He recently moved to London to pursue a career in finance and he currently works for Russell Investments in Mayfair.

RDA is a charity that provides therapy to around 25,000 children and adults with disabilities through horse riding all over the UK.

There are 500 RDA groups in the UK. The RDA centre in Shrewley will be become the new national headquarters as well as a national training centre.

Having teamed up with independent travel company, Adventure Alternative, Max and his team will set out on their journey on March, 30 2018 and expect the trek to last 16 days.

Max’s condition makes it difficult for his body to retain heat and he is unable to walk without assistance, so making the trip to the 5km high Base Camp is going to be incredibly challenging.

Giles Newton, project manager for Riding Everest said: “Our goals with Riding Everest are to raise money for RDA and to raise awareness of what people with cerebral palsy can achieve. Here is a guy who is almost 24/7 reliant on other people to live. He is a truly inspirational person and I cannot wait to help him achieve his main goal and get to Everest Base Camp.”

Max said: “As a child, RDA was one of the first consistent therapies I had. It not only provided regular therapy for my condition, but it allowed me to take part in a sport I could participate in and interact with a different set of people and make new friends.

“Riding Everest is going to be really, massively difficult because of my cerebral palsy. Even for an able-bodied person, riding eight hours a day will be incredibly challenging. I’m going to be taking my body to the extreme limits of its endurance.

“We want exciting, dynamic and adventurous people and organisations to join us on this incredible journey, and make it a truly global success.”