Mount Kilimanjaro first for injured rugby player Max
Max Levene has become the first wheelchair user with a tetraplegic spinal cord injury to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.
On Saturday 14 September he reached the summit, helped by a support crew including friends playing alongside him in his Truro School team 14 years ago when he broke his neck.
Having flown home from the ascent, Max said: “The most challenging thing was the sheer exhaustion after trying to sleep at altitude and only getting about three hours a night. The final day to the summit was so tiring and cold that I was almost at the point of saying I couldn’t carry on, but it was amazing to reach the summit. It was a tremendous relief after 18 months preparing. That was the focus of my and my partner’s lives for so long and I don’t think it has really sunk in yet.
“Having reached the goal, fighting through the pain, it was almost harder coming down but really funny when the team were charging down a scree slope with me in my wheelchair. Then it was just amazing coming off the mountain to be met by my partner and my mum.
“I have a great sense of achievement knowing what the team and I achieved, and I do hope it inspires others in my situation. I don’t want everyone to try going up a mountain but to push themselves to do the one thing they’ve been struggling to do.
“I’m so grateful to my support team. Dave Wells who looked after my personal care was someone I met when he was helping on an RFU Injured Players Foundation ski trip, and he was great. The rest of the team were tremendous too.”
David Squire’s company Kilimanjaro Experts supported Max and his team on the ascent and he explained: “Max’s friends pushed, lifted and carried his wheelchair to the summit as he has no mobility below the chest. There was a great deal of personal care as he was tossed around and Dave Wells was immense in dealing with both his own issues and Max’s.
“He couldn’t do it alone and the team camaraderie was fantastic with one hell of a party at the summit and a lot of singing as Max achieved his childhood dream.”
Max added: “Lots of people have helped me become who I am now, so to share this with them was amazing.”
Supporting charities who’ve supported him
The challenge is benefitting both the RFU Injured Players Foundation (IPF) and The INSPIRE Foundation. Max says IPF support “has made such a difference to my recovery and my life. From immediate practical and emotional support, to help and reassurance for my family, long-term financial aid and specialised equipment, they’ve been there for me.
“Importantly, they also support injured players in returning to education or work, and to take part in activities allowing them to live life to the full. They’re a lifeline; they’re always there to support us and our families for the rest of our lives.
“The money I raise will help the IPF continue to fund important research into how people’s lives can be improved after injury, and how the risk of these injuries could be reduced."
Having recently become a patron for The INSPIRE Foundation, he adds: “It’s a charity I truly believe in which conducts research into spinal cord paralysis, some jointly funded with the IPF. They are particularly interested in how the latest technology can help improve the quality of life for those living with tetraplegia and paraplegia.
Advice from Jonny and Dave
“Like many people with spinal cord injuries I can deal mentally with quite a lot, but the climb was a tremendous test of my mental resilience.
“I’ve built that through dealing with my injury and can usually take the good from dark moments. However, this was an extreme environment, and I needed to focus on pushing myself but not beyond my limits.
“I’d done altitude training up to 1,000 metres higher than the mountain itself and I’d spoken to former Bath prop, David Barnes, a member of the IPF squad, who shared useful advice from his experience of climbing Kilimanjaro.
“I was also lucky enough to talk to Jonny Wilkinson, also part of the IPF squad, about mindset and focus. Hearing his thoughts on making sure you enjoy the pressure moments and cherishing them by being in a place where you can fully experience things was something I reminded myself of in harder moments.”
Childhood dream
“Before my injury, my parents lived out in Kenya and you could see Mount Kilimanjaro over the border. We spent a night in a safari park called Amboseli looking over the mountain by a campfire. I remember thinking that one day I’d just love to climb that mountain.
“Four months later I broke my neck and that was the end of thinking about those expeditions. Now I’ve actually done it I feel I’m back where I wanted to be pre-injury.”
Max is aiming to raise £20,000 for the RFU Injured Players Foundation (IPF) and The INSPIRE Foundation.
His Kilimanjaro achievement is one of several inspiring experiences. While forging a career as an economist, he has completed a sponsored skydive, set up his own podcast and tried stand-up comedy. Or as Max refers to it, “sit down, stand-up comedy.’
Inspired by Max’s story? Why not support his Kilimanjaro fundraising via his GoFundMe page.
Max’s journey to the summit is also on instagram @max_levene and X @max_levene1 or his YouTube channel.
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