HUSBAND and wife team Ian and Jacky Macqueen are used to supporting each other at their veterinary practice in Devizes but this was taken to anew level when they took on Mount Kilimanjaro for charity.

Mr and Mrs Macqueen suffered altitude sickness, asthma and vertigo on the difficult climb to raise money for Wiltshire charity Alzheimer’s Support.

The pair, who run Macqueen’s on the Hopton Industrial Estate,. take on a big physical challenge every year and this time they were motivated to help the charity because Mr Macqueen’s mother developed dementia.

His wife said: “My mother-in-law had a fall and broke her hip when she was in her early seventies and still very active.

“She was a very intelligent woman but within three months she didn’t know who she was or what was going on. She spent a year in a nursing home and sadly died.”

So the couple decided to take on Mount Kilimanjaro, which is the highest mountain in Africa as they knew it would be a big challenge as Mrs Macqueen has vertigo and asthma and her husband suffers from altitude sickness.

Mrs Mcqueen said: ““We weren’t sure we could do it but we had to try. “

They took a walking route up the mountain, but the terrain was still tough and very steep.

Mrs Macqueen said: “The Kissing Wall is supposed to be the really scary bit.

“You can only get across with hand and foot holds. Our guide kept saying to me ‘Put your hand here and your foot there’. I didn’t look down and it was only after I’d passed it that I realised how very steep it was.

“There was only one part that really freaked me out where I had to step over a void, but again, the big strong hand of the guide stretched out towards me and I did it.”

The final climb to the summit began from their camp at midnight, with the only light coming from the group’s head torches.

To help keep negative emotions at bay Jacky thought about her daughter’s wedding and family holidays to the Scilly Isles. “When the catastrophic thoughts started coming, we recognised them as the effect of the high altitude and could carry on,” said Mrs Mcqueen.

“Getting to the top was a stellar point, it was an incredible relief and we were so thrilled.”

The couple have raised more than £400 for the charity. “We commend all Alzheimer’s Support does,” said Mrs Macqueen. “We’ll do anything to support them and the families caring for people living with dementia We both had a positive mental attitude and we were very well led.”