Tynemouth teens tackle Snowdon, Scafell and Ben Nevis in friend's memory
Ms Hall says she still feels like "he might walk through the door still and he hasn't really gone away". "I talk to him in my head all the time, I tell him what I am doing."Her son's close friends, Andrew Fairhurst and Max Whitelaw, both 18 and also from Tynemouth, decided to continue with Matthew's plan for the Three Peaks Challenge and hike the highest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales.They have already scaled the 3,560ft (1,085m) of Snowdon in Wales and the 3,210ft (978m) of Scafell in Cumbria. Now they are taking on the might of Ben Nevis, the highest of the three at 4,413ft (1,345m).
Ms Hall has helped organise the fundraising efforts for the Teenage Cancer Trust and the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle."I am very proud of Andrew and Max taking on the Three Peaks," she says."It was something Matthew wanted to do. Right up until Easter he was still planning doing it."The hope is to raise awareness of paraganglioma, a rarity in someone of Matthew's age and with a genetic link. It presented as benign tumours in his abdomen - discovered when he went into hospital with a suspected burst appendix - but became untreatable once it began to spread.
"It is quite unique not having him here with us," Andrew says."I am sure he would have loved it if he was and there would have been lots of laughing."Max says the whole plan was Matthew's idea."He was the one that came up with the massive trips and bike trips so it is a nice way to honour him."As they trek up the rocky paths, Andrew and Max are wearing special t-shirts bearing Matthew's picture."When they get to each peak, if they are wearing the t-shirts, there is a little bit of him there with them," Ms Hall says.
On the friends' online fundraising page, Max says the death of a friend they have know since they were little "has left a massive hole in the lives of everyone who knew him".The teenagers have so far raised more than eight times their £1,000 target.
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