He did it! David Chadwick completes charity abseil

David Chadwick, Professor of Information Systems Security in the School of Computing has raised money for King’s College Hospital after their excellent care for him following a severe cycling accident, by taking part in a sponsored abseil.

David was cycling down St Thomas’ Hill, Canterbury in January when he was knocked off his bike by another cyclist, resulting in extensive injuries. He was motivated to raise money for the Hospital after receiving excellent care there.

David said: ‘Patients have 40% greater chance of survival at Kings, so I was lucky to be transferred there, otherwise I might not be fundraising for them today.’

The abseil took place on Friday 17 June and David is hoping to raise £1000.

David recalled abseiling experience; ‘When you are stood on the top of a tall building with your heels over the edge and you are told to lean backwards, your brain says “Don’t do it. This is certain death”. Although you have a harness, the rope fastened to it is still slack, so there is no resistance when you lean backwards. But once the slack in the rope is removed, and youcan feel some resistance, your brain says “OK you are now sitting in a chair, so you can lean back as far as you want”. From then onwards it is relatively easy. Even standing horizontal is not much of a problem. Once you get to grips with rotating hundreds of feet off the ground, you can enjoy the ride and glide swiftly to the ground. My only disappointment was that the Jubilee Wing was not higher, so that the ride could have lasted longer.’