Norfolk fundraiser aiming to break world record this weekend
Simon Kindleysides wants to become the first man in the world to climb the Leadenhall Skyscraper in an exo-skeleton suit
Last updated 9th Mar 2022
A man from Norfolk who's paralysed from the waist down is aiming to break a world record this weekend in London.
Simon Kindleysides wants to become the first man in the world, with his condition, to climb the Leadinghall Skyscraper's one thousand plus steps in an exo-skeleton suit.
He's also looking to raise £5,000 for The Brian Tumour Charity, in the process. A charity that's close to his heart: "I've had a brain tumour myself, so it's quite personal and I'm an ambassador for a little girl who's eleven years old- called Tegan Smiles."
He told us why he's decided to tackle this challenge: "I've done distance when I did the London Marathon in 2018, now I want to do height.
"I want to see how far I can go walking up stairs and hopefully I can get the highest sky-scraper in the world to get in contact and be like- 'we want you to climb our stairs'.
"So this is a little challenge, because nobody's done it before I could have done a smaller building but I wanted to set the heights high.
"I like to look for things where a paralysed person hasn't completed it, so I can be the first and I just wanted to raise some money for the charity at the same time".
He concluded by saying this is all ultimately about giving back: "I just feel blessed. The person who brought this suit for me, I've been able to do all these different challenges and raise thousands of pounds for charity. It's given me a lease of life.
"Thanks to that private sponsor who brought me that suit it's enabled me to be able to help other people when somebody's helped me".