Daredevil groom-to-be to take the plunge with 160ft charity abseil

A daredevil groom-to-be will begin his stag do in style by abseiling 160 feet down the side of St Thomas’ Hospital.

Lindsay Blake, 39 from Clapham in London, is set to take the plunge on the morning of Friday 11 May to raise money for Evelina London Children’s Hospital.

He decided to take on the challenge in memory of his grandmother whose life was saved at St Thomas’ as a child.

Immediately after the abseil, the father-of-one will be whisked off to Stanstead Airport before flying to a secret location to celebrate his stag do with 10 friends.

Lindsay, who works at St Thomas’ as a programme manager, said: “I am very much in the dark about the whole stag do, which is a little worrying. The abseil will be a fantastic experience and the chance for me to raise money for a hospital that is very close to my heart.”

His grandmother, May Adams, was saved by a consultant at St Thomas’ Hospital in the early 1930s when she was 12 years old.  At the time she had measles which later developed into life-threatening septicaemia.

Lindsay, who will tie the knot with fiancée Gemma in June, says the knock-on effect of his grandmother’s care on his family led him to sign up for the abseil.

He said: “Although my grandma is not alive today she often spoke highly about the consultant who saved her life. At the time of my grandma’s admission, the consultant was overheard telling his team ‘I’m not going to lose this one’ and then laid down next to her to transfuse his own blood.

“My grandma had her mastoid (part of the skull located behind the ear) removed but made a full recovery – apart from being deaf in one ear. In the following years she regularly visited the hospital to help assist the consultant with training new staff.”

He added: “The valiant actions of that one consultant had a positive knock-on effect on my whole family. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be here today. My son, Cooper, was born at St Thomas’ in 2015 so this is my way of saying thank you.”

There will be 290 brave supporters and staff completing the abseil challenge on Friday 11 May, taking in views of Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye along the way.

Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity raises money for big things and small touches that make our life-saving care even better and help our patients and their families feel really looked after. For more information on fundraising visit our charity website.

To help Lindsay reach his fundraising target, visit the virgin money giving wesbite.