A 10-year-old boy from the North West who has raised £28,000 for charity by taking on an ambitious mountain-climbing challenge is set to receive a national award.
Frankie McMillan, from Holmrook in Cumbria, is attempting to climb the highest peaks in 32 European countries to raise money and awareness for Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), after his best friend was diagnosed with a rare heart condition.
The youngster has been climbing since he was a toddler, reaching the summit of Cat Bells in the Lake District - a 451-metre fell - when he was just three years old.
A lifelong passion for climbing
At seven years old, Frankie climbed Mount Olympus in Greece, which stands at 2,917 metres, and the following year he trekked with his mum Basia, 43, to Everest Base Camp, more than 5,300 metres above sea level.
Now, he is taking on a challenge spanning 32 countries, with each summit required to be more than 900 metres high and within Europe. His efforts have already raised thousands of pounds for the charity, all inspired by his friend Xander Morris, 11.
Frankie is set to be honoured with a medal at the British Citizen Youth Awards, supported by Specsavers, to recognise the incredible work he has done in his community.
Inspired by his best friend
Frankie said: "It all came to me because my mum was always going up the mountains, and I kept asking and kept asking (until) one day she took me."
"She didn't think I would make it to the summit, and she wasn't planning on carrying me or anything. But I just went for it, and I made it to the top, and the rest is history."
"He was very curious, and kept asking me to take him," added Frankie's mum Basia. "I didn't have a baby carrier or anything like that, so I thought if we're going to give it a go, he would just have to try on his own feet."
"I still remember when he got to the top of the mountain, he said, 'Mummy, everything is so small now!', and then he asked when we could go again."
"By a year later, when he was four, he'd already climbed 50 mountains including Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England. Now, we've climbed over a thousand mountains worldwide."
Raising funds for heart screenings
Frankie became best friends with Xander when they first met as Frankie moved into Xander's classroom at the end of Year 4 at school. Xander, in the year above, took Frankie under his wing, as Frankie said he felt "lonely" and Xander "was the tall guy" in the class and helped him transition into the new school year.
Shortly after they became friends, Frankie learned that Xander had been diagnosed with long QT syndrome (LQTS) - a rare heart condition which can cause serious problems with heart rhythm, according to the NHS - when he was six.
Having already fundraised for a few different charities, Frankie decided his next philanthropic challenge would be for CRY, to raise money for free heart screenings in Cumbria which could help diagnose problems early and, ultimately, save lives.
Xander's father Thomas Morris, 42, explained that Xander was diagnosed with LQTS after he became unwell when he was in his second year at school, and an ECG alerted doctors that something was "amiss with his heart, but they weren't too sure what it was".
After a number of tests and hospital trips, including a visit to a heart specialist in Newcastle, Xander was diagnosed and, after learning it was hereditary, both Thomas and Xander's younger brother Jude were also found to have the same condition.
All three family members are healthy, taking medication that keeps the condition in check, but Thomas points out that if it wasn't for that simple heart check, none of them would have known that something was wrong until, maybe, it was too late.
"I think Xander's so lucky to have a friend in Frankie," said Thomas. "An anomaly on a really simple ECG (can make it) very, very easy to diagnose if people have certain heart conditions, and (Xander's) was diagnosed that way."
"The work that Frankie's doing, I have no doubt that he's going to save lives. So I'm hugely proud, immensely proud. He is an absolute role model for children and adults alike."
Progress and future goals
So far, Frankie and Basia have completed 27 of their 32 climbs. They travelled for six weeks in the school holidays to tackle peaks in the Balkans, and have also ticked off the likes of Gran Paradiso, a 4,061m peak in the Italian Alps, and the exposed ridges of Slovenia's Triglav.
Frankie said the latter has been his favourite so far, as it involved "a proper via ferrata section" along an "edge that's twice the width of you".
"If you're not clipped into the via ferrata, one wrong move, and there's two vertical drops either side of you – you're kind of cooked!" he said.
Having already raised more than £28,000 for CRY - a figure that will fund more than 200 free heart screenings in Cumbria - Frankie will receive his medal on Thursday October 29, and the same week he will climb his 28th peak: Mount Dinara in Croatia.
Frankie's ultimate goal is to summit Mount Everest, with his bedroom wall plastered in a giant poster of the world's highest mountain.
For now, though, he said: "I just feel very pleased that I'm getting recognised for the things that I do and how I help the community."
