North Wales hospice nurse taking on Atlas Mountains trek to raise funds for Tŷ Gobaith
A nurse from Tŷ Gobaith children’s hospice in the Conwy Valley is climbing Morocco’s highest peak this May to raise funds for the charity.
Gemma Jones, 45, of Glan Conwy has worked at Tŷ Gobaith for ten years and will take on the 4,167-metre Mt Toubkal in the Atlas Mountains as part of the charity’s Morocco Trek 2026.
She said: “Some days at work, I hold a child’s hand. Some days I sit with a mum or dad at 3am when the world feels impossibly cruel.
“Some days I help make a birthday special — because we don’t know if there’ll be another one.
“Sometimes Christmas is brought forward as time is so precious.
“That is the reality of working at Tŷ Gobaith children’s hospice.”
Gemma says she is not a natural athlete and has recently joined a gym and started hiking in the local area to prepare.
She said: “It is not a sad place. I want people to understand that. It is one of the most alive places I have ever been. Full of love, laughter, and fierce determination to make every single moment count for these children and their families.
“But it takes an extraordinary team, specialist equipment, and consistent funding to keep those doors open and that care flowing.
“That’s why I’m going to Morocco.”
She said: “When my legs ache on that mountain, every blister and every steep incline, I’ll think of the children I care for who face challenges that make a steep climb look easy.
“When I want to stop, I’ll remember the parents who never get to stop — who keep going every single day with a strength that humbles me.”
Tŷ Gobaith, along with its sister hospice Hope House in Oswestry, supports over 700 children and families living with life-threatening conditions across north and mid Wales, Cheshire and Shropshire.
Services include respite care, nursing care, physiotherapy, hydrotherapy and activity-centred play.
The charity is only partially funded by statutory sources and must raise £10m each year to fund its services.
Donations can be made at justgiving.com/page/gemmajones9
Anyone who donates £10 or more and leaves the comment “Raffle/Cottage” will be entered into a draw to win a two-night stay at a cottage in Dwyran on Anglesey, near Newborough beach.
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