Trekking mountains for carers - Horsham man's journey

In 2016, Laurence Smith walked a mountain range for his son and his carers, and raised £16,000 for the charity. In 2025, in his 70th year, he plans to walk the Cape Wrath Trail and ascend Kilimanjaro for the same cause.

“Aged four months, my son, Jeremy, was diagnosed with a severe learning disability, cerebral palsy, scoliosis and epilepsy. Unable to walk or talk, yet blessed with a deep love of trees, Marmite and music, Jeremy’s personality touched my family and those around him.

"The first book, Two Journeys – Undiminished and Unforgotten, tells how his parents and three sisters learned to accept his condition and ensure he led a full life, undiminished by his handicap, from birth through his first five years in a Norwood care home. I want this book to show how someone like Jeremy draws out the goodness within us.

“The second book, Two Journeys – the Sign, is a memoir of my two-month and 540-mile solo trek along the Pyrenees.

"Having witnessed the love and care afforded by Norwood, I became obsessed with a burning desire to “leave a sign to my son’s carers and lay my life on the line, just as they do for my son, every minute of every day”. With no previous experience of walking mountain ranges, suffering from dreadful acrophobia and a poor sense of direction, I felt determined to “give something back”.

“Considered together, I want my books to signal hope to carers of loved ones with a disability – that all is not doom and gloom.

"Caring for someone opens new routes and possibilities that are not always obvious. I have been privileged to be welcomed into a truly wonderful ‘silent community’ of carers, each with their own personal stories waiting to be told.

"Their journeys inspired me to take on the extreme physical challenge of trekking solo along a mountain range. As a father of someone I love dearly, I do not want Jeremy to leave this earth with no trace – these books are dedicated to him and his carers so that they will, I hope, never be forgotten.”

The book can be purchased from Amazon in eBook and paperback by clicking on this link:

Two Journeys