Blacklion man is first Parkinson's patient to climb Kilimanjaro

Hugh makes history with mamoth 5,681 metre climb

Hugh with a child of Nairobi's slums.

A Blacklion man has become the first ever Irish (if not the world) Parkinson's disease patient to climb to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain. 54-year-old Hugh Cormack not only overcame the restrictions of his illness but remarkably also overcame his fear of heights to scale the 19,300 foot mountain.

Hugh was just 45-years-old when he first noticed signs of the disease. A former midfield star with the local GAA club, he had just taken up squash, was a non-smoker and a social drinker. He had held down a good job, as a prison officer in Loughan House prison near his home for 27 years and he thought he was in prime condition for his age.

For full article, see this week's Anglo-Celt.