Determined Des Lally braved blizzards, heatstroke and 80mph winds to hit the heights for charity.
The dogged dad wore out seven pairs of trainers trekking 1,500 miles up and down the same mountain 365 times in one year.
On his final ascent of the 2,907ft Pen y Fan, near his home in Brecon, Powys, he was joined by hundreds of well-wishers and received a fanfare from the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. He was also accompanied by his ex Irish Guards father Des Snr, 78.
Mortgage broker Des, 44, raised £60,900 which he split between Cancer Research UK – both his parents have survived the disease – and Help for Heroes.
He said: “There have been blisters and I must have rolled my ankle 50 times. The last climb was phenomenal.”
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He presented the Help for Heroes cheque to ex-Royal Artillery Sergeant Major Jim Whitworth who served in Northern Ireland, Kuwait, Kosovo and Iraq during his 22 years in the Army.
Jim has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Des, who was kept going on his marathon effort by thinking about Jim, said: “When you see people who’ve benefited from the funds it becomes real. It’s humbling.”
Jim, 47, has hearing loss and his mental state began declining in the year before his 2011 discharge from the military with a back injury.
Jim was haunted by sights and smells of war and struggled to cope with life.
He recalled: “Sometimes I was depressed and others that angry man syndrome kicked in. My emotions were all over the place and I didn’t understand why”.
In 2014 only the thought of his beloved daschund Emma stopped him from killing himself.
The dad-of-two said he constantly wanted to cry but feared being seen as weak.
Jim lost three ex-colleagues to suicide, including, in June 2016, Royal Artillery bombardier Gareth Crabb, 38.
Jim, who lives with his partner Tracy, 46, in Merthyr Tydfil, endured a terrifying incident in the Gulf War.
He was trapped for an hour in a broken down vehicle while American troops dropped bombs 100 yards away during training.
He said: “As a young lad in a position like that you show bravado but years down the line it comes back to you.”
Jim suffered noise-induced hearing loss in 2003 and was transferred to Logistics but a spinal injury in 2010 saw his career and marriage take a nosedive.
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He said: “I didn’t tell them I was struggling mentally but I was broken.”
He hit rock bottom in 2014 but had treatment from a crisis team and got involved with Help for Heroes.
Through the charity, he took up swimming and wheelchair rugby.
Jim said: “For Des to take a year out of his life is selfless.” Help for Heroes’ Shelley Elgin said: “The change we have seen in Jim since he started his recovery journey with Help for Heroes has been a joy.
“We couldn’t deliver any of our services without the generosity of the public.”
You can donate to Help for Heroes here
