Caroline on top of the world

From loops of Knockma to the peak of Kilimanjaro

TUAM’S Caroline Heffernan can deservedly feel like she’s on top of the world. Last week, she completed the mammoth task of reaching the summit of Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa.

It’s a remarkable achievement for anyone to accomplish, but a particularly inspirational one from a grandmother who is one of the oldest people in Ireland living with the lung disease Cystic Fibrosis.

Caroline trained for the 5,800-metre-high hike for the past year and completed numerous loops of Castlehackett in Belclare, many treks up and down Croagh Patrick, as well as reaching the top of Ireland’s and Spain’s highest peaks.

It has been an incredible journey for the CF advocate who, speaking to The Tuam Herald from Africa, was only realising the feat she had accomplished. However, her actual feet reminded her of all the terrain they had covered, and she believes her badly bruised toes and feet were inflicted by the steep journey down rather than on her way up…

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