A man is trekking the Great Wall of China to raise money for charity in memory of his brother who died after falling from his flat window.
Lewis Mckay, 27, was just 22 when his brother Greg tragically died after accidentally falling from a flat window in Aberdeen in May 2020.
Lewis, a travel agency assistant manager from Aberdeen will embark on a six day trek of the Great Wall of China in his brother's name to raise money for two charities close to his families’ heart.
He will be on the trek on 12 May 2025 - the fifth anniversary of Greg’s death, and in the year he would have turned 30.
Lewis said: “Ever since my brother passed away, I’ve been wanting to do something in his name.
“I’ve been thinking for years and years what I could do and then a fundraiser came to mind.
“I decided to trek the Great Wall of China - I’m a travel agent and am inspired by places around the world, and I just thought it’s the most extraordinary thing I could think of.
“My mum’s absolutely delighted - I told my family about the fundraiser two weeks ago. She’s just brilliant, she does everything she can to keep my brother’s spirit alive.”
Greg was 24 when he died in an accident just six months after setting up a home with his girlfriend in Aberdeen.
Lewis said: “It’s been a real struggle, just so traumatic.
“It happened during lockdown so it was literally a case of one day speaking to him on Facetime then the next day he was gone - it was such a shock.
“The funeral was also during lockdown so we could only have about 20 people there."
But hundreds of friends, family and Aberdeen F.C. supporters - the team Greg supported - lined the streets to pay their respects as his funeral cortege passed by.
Lewis will begin his trek of the Great Wall of China on 10 May next year.
He began his fundraising journey on 27 July with an initial aim of £5,000.
However just days after launching it, he had nearly raised £2,000.
He said: “I might have to raise the fundraising target - the support I’ve had already has been incredible."
He is raising money for two charities close to his family's hearts - the Sunrise Partnership and Mental Health Aberdeen.
Lewis said: “The Sunrise Partnership actually helped my family personally to process the loss of my brother. They work specifically with children who have been affected by bereavement and loss.
“Then MHA supports people of all ages with mental health issues - it’s a local charity which does a lot of good in our community.”
Lewis booked his trip with trekking company ‘Explore Worldwide’ and will spend six days scaling the wall.
He said: “We’ll be trekking up to eight hours a day. Some people have asked ‘will you be trekking the whole thing’ but I don’t think people realise how huge it is - it would take 18 months to do the whole thing!
“I’ll be spending the next nine months training - I plan to climb a few of the different mountains in Scotland in preparation and will be sharing updates on my social media accounts, including my Instagram @lewloves and Facebook page.
“And on the last day of my trek, I’ll be trekking the Great Wall in a kilt!”
You can find out more and donate to Lewis’s fundraiser here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/lewis-trip-to-the-great-wall-of-china.
Lewis Mckay, 27, was just 22 when his brother Greg tragically died after accidentally falling from a flat window in Aberdeen in May 2020.
Lewis, a travel agency assistant manager from Aberdeen will embark on a six day trek of the Great Wall of China in his brother's name to raise money for two charities close to his families’ heart.
He will be on the trek on 12 May 2025 - the fifth anniversary of Greg’s death, and in the year he would have turned 30.
Lewis said: “Ever since my brother passed away, I’ve been wanting to do something in his name.
“I’ve been thinking for years and years what I could do and then a fundraiser came to mind.
“I decided to trek the Great Wall of China - I’m a travel agent and am inspired by places around the world, and I just thought it’s the most extraordinary thing I could think of.
“My mum’s absolutely delighted - I told my family about the fundraiser two weeks ago. She’s just brilliant, she does everything she can to keep my brother’s spirit alive.”
Greg was 24 when he died in an accident just six months after setting up a home with his girlfriend in Aberdeen.
Lewis said: “It’s been a real struggle, just so traumatic.
“It happened during lockdown so it was literally a case of one day speaking to him on Facetime then the next day he was gone - it was such a shock.
“The funeral was also during lockdown so we could only have about 20 people there."
But hundreds of friends, family and Aberdeen F.C. supporters - the team Greg supported - lined the streets to pay their respects as his funeral cortege passed by.
Lewis will begin his trek of the Great Wall of China on 10 May next year.
He began his fundraising journey on 27 July with an initial aim of £5,000.
However just days after launching it, he had nearly raised £2,000.
He said: “I might have to raise the fundraising target - the support I’ve had already has been incredible."
He is raising money for two charities close to his family's hearts - the Sunrise Partnership and Mental Health Aberdeen.
Lewis said: “The Sunrise Partnership actually helped my family personally to process the loss of my brother. They work specifically with children who have been affected by bereavement and loss.
“Then MHA supports people of all ages with mental health issues - it’s a local charity which does a lot of good in our community.”
Lewis booked his trip with trekking company ‘Explore Worldwide’ and will spend six days scaling the wall.
He said: “We’ll be trekking up to eight hours a day. Some people have asked ‘will you be trekking the whole thing’ but I don’t think people realise how huge it is - it would take 18 months to do the whole thing!
“I’ll be spending the next nine months training - I plan to climb a few of the different mountains in Scotland in preparation and will be sharing updates on my social media accounts, including my Instagram @lewloves and Facebook page.
“And on the last day of my trek, I’ll be trekking the Great Wall in a kilt!”
You can find out more and donate to Lewis’s fundraiser here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/lewis-trip-to-the-great-wall-of-china.
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FunTranscript
00:00Since losing my brother back in May 2020 I have been wanting to do something for
00:05him and I've just had no idea what I want to do, when I want to do it until
00:10now. So I've been thinking long and hard and I'm going to do a fundraiser in the
00:16name of my brother Greg and it's going to be next year in May and that's going
00:22to be exactly five years since we've lost him and it's his 30th birthday
00:27next year. I'm going to tell you what I'm going to do at the end of this video
00:31but I'm going to be setting my target at £5,000 which I know is an
00:37extravagant amount of money to raise and I'm going to be splitting the money
00:42that I raise between two charities which I'll put information on the charities in
00:47the caption just to save time on the video so that I don't go over the three
00:50minutes again or it's going to be bad for me. So yeah the first charity is
00:57going to be the Sunrise Partnership and the second charity is going to be MHA
01:02which is Mental Health Aberdeen. I today have just booked and confirmed and paid
01:08for my trip to China so I'm going to be trekking on the Great Wall of China next
01:14year in May and it will be over the 12th of May which is sadly the day back in
01:202020 that we lost my brother. I know that Greg has absolutely no
01:26connection to China or the Great Wall of China but I just wanted something so
01:30kind of unique and just wow basically. I can't think of any better way to honour
01:37Greg than to raise money for charities that have supported families that are
01:43similar to mine. So whether you want to donate £1, £5, £10 now, next year,
01:51every month, every donation is much appreciated and thank you for your
01:59support. I'm going to be tracking everything, tracking, updating
02:04everything on my Instagram, Lou Loves and on my Facebook page Louis Mackay. If we're
02:10not friends then feel free to add me. I am going to be kind of putting updates on
02:15there because I'm going to be doing like treks and mountains and stuff because I
02:19need to get fitter. I need to get fitter and I'll be falling off the Wall of China.
02:24But yeah, thank you for your support.