Mum with Multiple Sclerosis raises £75k by climbing Mount Etna

A Jewish mum from Golders Green who has Multiple Sclerosis has raised more than £75,000 by climbing Mount Etna.

Toni Krok, who was diagnosed ten years ago, overcame all obstacles to conquer Europe’s highest active volcano to launch her new charity, MS Positive.

Together with husband Dov and 25 friends and supporters, Toni climbed over a kilometre in height, crossing two fresh lava fields, to the summit 3,345 metres above sea-level, before running down over 400 metres of loose rock and scree.

After the gargantuan effort, she quoted Sir Edmund Hillary, who once said “it is not the mountain that we conquer, but ourselves,” before celebrating raising more than double her original fundraising target.

The new charity, which she is setting up with friends Janine Oppenheim and Pam Pamensky, will support individuals and families in North London affected by multiple sclerosis, providing a helpline, a programme of exercise and fitness classes, and emotional and practical support and advice through a range of forums.

“MS affects everyone differently,” said Toni this week, fresh from east coast of Sicily. “We have good days and bad days and we can’t control that. But what we can control is how we respond to what we are going through.”

She added: “Being alone with my thoughts as I climbed, I found a peacefulness with myself and with my diagnosis and my life. Staying positive – focusing on what we can-do rather than what we can’t – is what MS Positive is all about.

“Climbing Etna was about showing what we can do when we put our minds to it. That’s why we are calling MS Positive the MS charity with the can-do attitude.”