Cancer survivor to climb Everest for charity

Jordan Chhetri is set to climb Mount Everest to raise money for Southampton Hospitals Charity

A man is climbing Mount Everest to raise money for the hospital that cared for him when he had cancer as a teenager.

Jordan Chhetri was treated for Non-Hodgkin lymphoma at Southampton General Hospital's Piam Brown unit, after being diagnosed in 2009 aged 13.

Now 29, Mr Chhetri said he wanted to "give back to the ward that saved my life after all these years".

So far, he has raised more than £4,000 for Southampton Hospitals Charity.

Mr Chhetri was given a 20% chance of survival after a 5.5in by 3.5in (14cm by 9cm) tumour was discovered near his heart.

When he was very ill, he recalled hearing a nurse tell his mother he would die if he did not eat and drink.

"I just remember thinking 'no, I'm not going out like that, my purpose in life is bigger than me just dying on the sofa'," he said.

He went into remission in January 2015, and said he was "buzzing" to climb Everest in support of the hospital that treated him for nine months.

Mr Chhetri has been in Nepal for 15 days and the expedition to Base Camp is set to start on Saturday.

He will then trek up to camp four, situated in Everest's "death zone", at which point a decision will be made about whether the weather permits him to go to the summit.

"Everyone keeps saying 'are you scared?'... Not at the moment," he said.

"I think as soon as I'm at the bottom and I'm looking at the mountain, then I'll feel a few nerves, but I'm ready for it.

"I've been training for 14 months. I can't let a few nerves... stray me away from what I want to do."