At the age of 61, Pakistan born Khalid Hussain, with visual impairment, is preparing for his second hiking endeavour, conquering Snowdonia’s Snowdon peak despite experiencing complete blindness.
Having served as a former social worker at Kirklees Council, Khalid directed numerous individuals with cancer to Macmillan’s services throughout his professional tenure. He consistently admired the exceptional level of care his patients received.
Khalid told Asian Standard, “The Snowden climb is a night climb which will take place on 2 and 3 September, over the weekend. I aim to raise money for Macmillan Cancer. It is a charity, that I worked with during my professional occupation. I referred people to this charity, for help with money, care and other issues facing cancer.”
When asked why Cancer, Khalid said: “I have worked with a lot of people in my life who had cancer, in my professional job. Some of those people were having problems not only with cancer but also with money. Seeing this problem, I gradually became passionate about helping them. People who were having cancer and their families were under stress, so I decided to do something about it.”
Image: Macmillan
Khalid’s first hike was Yorkshire Dales in 2021.
Recalling the hike, Khalid said: “It was a 13-mile hike in 2021, it was quite a challenge, because it rained on the day. If you know Yorkshire Dales, it is quite uneven, it’s up and down. I wanted to do it, because of my commitment to help people with Cancer.
“I had a hiking guide, Tariq. So, when you are walking with someone else, you have to be reliant on them, to know what’s coming, how many steps are coming, I use a white stick, but the stick is no good, because the ground is uneven. There are some very high steps, so that’s one challenge. I rely on my guide, to know what was on each step.”
Khalid Hussain has been completely blind since the age of 7.
Recalling his gradual loss of sight, Tariq said: “I was born in Pakistan, there we did not get treatment on time for sight-loss. My sight was lost gradually, it wasn’t suddenly. I could see, I could walk around, but when we got here in the UK. They did a number of tests and said that it’s too late, we can’t operate on the back of your eye, it would be dangerous. So that’s how it happened.”
Khalid does not want to stop here in his endeavour to raise money for Cancer.
“I plan to do the Ben Avis in Scotland, which is much tougher. I have thought of scaling a mountain in South Asia, which I can do, but I haven’t found any. But I do plan to scale Ben Avis to raise money.”
If you want to help Khalid Hussain raise money and spread awareness on cancer. You can do so here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/khalidnighthike
