Former rugby player with tetraplegia to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for IPF charity
In October this year, Liam O’Keeffe will attempt to become the first person with tetraplegia to push himself up Kilimanjaro in a specially adapted mountain trike, supported by a team of guides.
Liam was injured while playing rugby union in 2015 and has set a target of £50,000 for the RFU Injured Players Foundation (IPF), which has been a source of incredible support for him in the years since his accident.
The inspiration for the climb came after watching a documentary about Martin Hibbert. Hibbert was injured in the Manchester Arena bombing and completed a charity climb up Mount Kilimanjaro in 2022.
“The IPF has given me the tools to get where I am today”
Liam credits the IPF with playing a crucial role in his recovery and independence.
He said: “I’ve had continual support from the IPF since my accident and that has been amazing. They were at my hospital bedside within 24 hours of my injury and haven’t left my side since. At the start of my injury, I had intense support from them, particularly with the rehab they offered me.
“I went from having five or six hours of rehab a week in the hospital to five or six hours a day at the rehabilitation clinic the IPF sent me to.
“The rehab clinic helped me become independent again. They wanted me to get back to the life I was used to, just in the chair now. I remember one of the staff asking me what I was going to make my mum for dinner.”
That support has continued well beyond the early stages of his injury.
Liam added: “The IPF has also supported me to get back into work, build life skills and learn how to conduct myself again. I’m a pretty functional disabled person now. I work full-time, I have a family, I can cook and clean.
“After my accident, I didn’t really know what life was going to look like. But except for the chair, my life’s pretty normal now. If I compare it to my friends, everything we do is the same, I just might do some of it a little differently.
“I’m eternally grateful to the IPF - they’ve given me the tools to get where I am today.”
A gruelling training schedule
Liam’s preparation for the climb is already in full swing. He has tackled Pen y Fan twice and plans to scale Sugar Loaf in South Wales, the four peaks of the Brecon Beacons, and the Welsh Three Peaks in a single weekend over the coming months.
He is also training with a personal trainer, which is no mean feat considering he became a father last year.
He said: “When I was planning this, I originally wanted to do something big before we had a family. But it didn’t really pan out this way as my wife had a baby last year!
“My personal trainer wants me to do nine hours of pushing in my chair this week, which isn’t easy to get in alongside work and family. It’s difficult but it’ll all be worth it once we’ve made it up the mountain.”
Alongside his full-time job and intense training schedule, Liam is involved in a number of fundraising events including a VETS tournament and music afternoon at St Marys’ OB RUFC, Bristol, on 31st May and the Sandy Mitchell Bristol Combination Rugby 10s tournament at Lockleaze Sports Centre, on 9 August.
To support Liam’s challenge, visit his fundraising page or his social media, and to learn more about the RFU Injured Players Foundation, visit their website.
