A NEWS Shopper delivery boy born with meningitis has climbed the highest peak in Africa.

The parents of Thomas Godley, 15, of Lansdowne Avenue, Orpington, feared they might lose their son after he was born with the life-threatening infection listeria meningitis, which can lead to brain damage or deafness and has a 30 per cent death rate.

But in the words of mum Vicki "he came through it all OK" and last week he returned from climbing Tanzania's 19,340ft Mount Kilimanjaro, raising £1,000 for charity.

He had begun the climb with dad, Robert, 46, but his father was unable to make it to the top, turning back 300ft from the summit.

The Darrick Wood School pupil said: "I just wanted to achieve something. I needed to do something special, so we decided to do this.

"It was OK for the first couple of days, but then I started to feel the altitude. We started at midnight for the last day's climb which was when it got really hard.

"It was pitch black and difficult to catch your breath and I started getting sick from the altitude. But it was worth it, the view at the top was incredible. It was obviously the biggest achievement of my life."

He and his dad decided to raise the cash for Harris HospisCare because of the care received there by a family friend who died recently from cancer.

His mum said: "Thomas was born with meningitis and at first we didn't know if he would survive but he came through it all and we're really proud of him for what he's achieved."