Sheffield Meningitis survivor takes on three peaks

But eleven years after his near death experience Dr Nick Penfold not only bagged the three mountains over one weekend, he raised an amazing £1,000 for the country’s biggest meningitis charity at the same time.

Nick, who is a post-doctoral research associate in chemistry, took part in Meningitis Now’s Three Peak challenge in June.

Aged just 17, Nick had recently finished his AS levels in June 2008 when he became severely ill.

Nick said he has no memory of what happened next but that his parents described the events that followed. “On arrival at the hospital, I was put into a medically induced coma and hooked up to a life support machine.

“My parents were told I had suspected meningococcal septicaemia and that I was critically ill. The doctors worked through the night to stabilise me and allow me to be transferred to a bigger hospital”.

Nick’s recovery was rapid and just 47 days after leaving hospital he had tackled his “rehabilitation goal” of climbing Helvellyn in the Lake District.

A decade on, he still hadn’t got the climbing bug out of his system and so the Three Peaks challenge seemed like the perfect way to mark his long term recovery.

“The Three Peaks challenge was absolutely amazing,” he said