A TEACHER is to climb the highest mountain in Africa to raise money for charity, despite fracturing her spine in a horse riding accident.

Nicole Issitt, a primary school teacher at Barley Hill in Thame, is setting off for Mount Kilimanjaro on August 2.

She will be raising cash for the Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance, as it was an air ambulance that helped her after her accident four years ago.

In 2008, the 26-year-old fractured her lower spine in a horse riding accident whilst on holiday with friends at the Brecon Beacons in Wales. An air ambulance took her from the remote location to hospital for emergency care.

Miss Issitt, an avid outdoor enthusiast, said: “Apparently it’s the most dangerous thing you can do after riding in cars and motor bikes. They suggested at one point I could have been paralysed.

“Because it was March and it was really quite remote, the land ambulance couldn’t get to me.”

She spent nearly three weeks in hospital, after which she wore a back brace for a further three months and had continued care and physiotherapy at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital .

She said: “It has changed my outlook on life. If you’re in a situation where you think you’re going to be paralysed it makes you appreciate things you can do more. That’s why I wanted to do this.”

The Aylesbury resident’s trek to the summit of Kilimanjaro will take her 5,895 metres above sea level and the high-altitude journey will take six days.

She will start trekking through rainforest in a sweltering 40 degrees, then progress through mooreland, up to a volcano crater.

On top of the mountain she will see 11,000-year-old ice glaciers, and the temperature will go down to minus 20 at night.