A British soldier left a triple-amputee after serving in Afghanistan reached new heights when he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro — to deliver a hamburger.
Corporal Andy Reid had his legs and right arm amputated in October 2009 after stepping on a improvised explosive device.
Every October since, the former soldier commemorates the life-changing incident by raising money for the organizations that helped him recover.
In 2022, he ascended the 19,341 feet up the Tanzanian mountain, representing his nonprofit, Standing Tall Foundation.
He also had his close friend Daniel Hodges and 22 other volunteer climbers along for the incredible feat.
The burger that came with them was a vegan one from the British burger chain Honest Burger in Manchester, which was vacuumed packed.
This week, Guinness World Records officially recognized the climb as the world’s highest altitude burger delivery on land.
“We all took turns in carrying the burger; you could basically call it burger-sitting,” Hodges told the record-keeping organization.
“Andy was in possession of the burger when both groups summited the mountain together.”
It took Reid and his team, which included physiotherapists, a consultant surgeon and a prosthetist, 14 days to reach the top.
Each day consisted of 10 to 12 hours of walking, which proved difficult for Reid, who has two prosthetic legs.
His left leg, which is valued at $74,750, contains microprocessors that allow it to adjust to different kinds of terrains.
It has to be charged every five days, so he carried power packs with him to use overnight.
“I’ve got an open wound in my leg where the pin goes in, so it’s about keeping that clean as well,” Reid told the record-keeping organization.
His right leg is covered in silicone, which also needed to be tended to regularly during the expedition.
“It was a matter of walking 100 meters, taking that off, cleaning my leg, cleaning the liner, putting it back on again, and then cracking on so I didn’t get any sores or cuts on my leg,” he explained.
This was his second time up the mountain.
He’d climbed it in 1999, as a 21-year-old army recruit.
“I had all my arms and legs and it was still quite tough then,” said Reid, who also became first triple amputee from the U.K. to reach the top of Africa’s tallest mountain.
“But what a great thing to do to show people with disabilities what can be achieved with the right mindset and obviously the right team of people.”
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