“Believe you can and you are halfway there.” This quote inspired Diana to sign up to the Three Peaks Challenge.

Diana McLeish recently completed the National Three Peaks Challenge in less than 24 hours, raising nearly £5,000 for Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity.

Earlier this year, Diana and her best friend Rachel Steen, bravely signed up to this adventure to thank the NHS and to raise money to help other babies, young people and families.

Diana’s youngest son Mylo was born with respiratory issues in 2022 and rushed to NICU before Diana could hold him or kiss him. More recently, little Mylo received incredible care prior to Christmas 2024 following an emergency, life saving operation on his bowel. This prompted Diana to do something extremely positive to show her gratitude to the NHS for looking after her son and on behalf of other children who rely on the hospital. She wanted to go that extra mile to say thank you. 80,000 steps to be exact.

This monumental, trekking challenge which the girls successfully completed at the weekend, required months of training to help them build up the strength to climb three of the highest mountains in the UK (travelling by bus with less than 45 minutes of sleep in total).

Summary

• Ben Nevis took 6 hours to climb 4,414ft from 6am (plus an extra hour at the top to support a team mate who hurt his leg).
• Scafell Pile took 5 hours to climb 3,209ft during the night from 10pm until 3am under a sky full of stars by head torch.
• Snowdon took 5 hours to climb 3,560ft from 10am the next morning finishing up for a celebratory lunch and train home.

Diana said ‘it was the adventure of a lifetime. I am delighted that Rachel was by my side throughout. It would not have been the same experience without her. We had so much fun together and laughed more than we moaned. We have made lifelong memories and taken our friendship to new heights. I am delighted that we got to raise so much money for GCHC, Glasgow Children’s Hospital.

I am confident each pound raised from our trek will make a positive difference to those who need it most.

We met lots of wonderful people along the way and want to thank everyone in our GCHC team for taking part and for all of your love and encouragement along the way. We were on a bus with 40+ others who were all trekking for causes close to their hearts.

Some of the stories shared were both heart warming and breaking in equal measure. When the trek got tough at points, I thought of everything those kids and babies had endured in their short lives and the ones who didn’t make it, I carried in my heart. That kept me going and I will keep going.

I will continue to do what I can to raise as much money and awareness for the hospital over the next few years. A few of my colleagues have already expressed an interest to help me put up Christmas decorations in the hospital – as part of our new BTO volunteer initiative.

We are so grateful to everyone who has donated and would like to split the money raised between NICU, bereavement support for families via Crossbasket House and ward 3b to allow the gastro team to buy medical equipment and toys for kids who have to stay in hospital between now and Christmas.’

If you would like to donate, please do so here Diana McLeish is fundraising for Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity

Diana is a valued member of our Charity & Social Committee. She is proud to be able to give back and be a fundraising champion.

With the help of her colleagues, she actively encourages others within the firm to get involved with charity events and activities to show BTO care. BTO is a great place to work. Recently the committee set up a ‘social hike’ club for wellbeing and hiked up Conic Hill.

More adventures are planned so watch this space.