Woman to honour sister by climbing Kilimanjaro

Dubai: A 33-year-old copywriter plans to conquer the world's fourth-highest peak in memory of her sister, who died from rheumatoid arthritis, and to help other sufferers of the autoimmune disorder.

Leela Alvares, originally from India, is climbing Mount Kilimanjaro on February 10 with three other friends under the banner of the Emirates Arthritis Foundation, to raise awareness and money to treat rheumatoid arthritis patients. She has sent an e-mail appeal to her friends seeking donations.

She told Gulf News, climbing the mountain was a way to honour her sister, Preeti Fernandes's, memory, whose death in 2005 from complications related to her arthritis came as a shock.

"I never imagined rheumatoid arthritis was a life-threatening illness. I just thought it affected the joints. I always thought she would get better [when I visited her at the hospital], but she never woke up from her coma," she said.

She said her trek up Africa's highest mountain, standing tall at 5,895m above sea level, would help prevent the same thing happening to two 7-year old children, "Mazhar" from Egypt and "Zaina" from Canada, who have the disorder.