Hill walker airlifted to hospital after suffering stroke during climb

A hill walker had to be rescued by helicopter after suffering a stroke while trying to scale three summits.

Robert Cunningham had been crossing Beinn a’Ghlo in Perth and Kinross on Wednesday when he became ill.

However the 66-year-old was determined to carry on until reaching the first of the three peaks, Carn Liath.

He and his son Kieran decided to turn back when Mr Cunningham’s condition worsened at around 12.25pm.

Mr Cunningham Jnr, 36, said: “We intended to do all three but he was short of breath after the first one.

“I noticed he was struggling and kept going back to meet him.

“He was determined to continue, but I could see he wasn’t doing too well.

“We decided to go back when half way down he froze.

“He was slurring his speech and I could see his face was bright purple.”

Emergency services were alerted and passers-by who stopped to help the pair made contact with Tayside Mountain Rescue Team (TMRT).

The volunteer members were able to pinpoint their location, about 600 metres up the hillside, and after about an hour they were found.

The keen hill walker was taken to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee by helicopter.

Stuart Johnston, TMRT leader, said: “From the nature of the symptoms we knew he was in a very serious condition, so we assessed that we needed a full-scale team out.

“We are obviously delighted that Mr Cunnigham is recovering in hospital, we’re delighted to hear that good news.

“We at TMRT would like to thank the hill walkers who stopped to help, it’s very heartwarming.”

Mr Cunningham Jnr added: “The TMRT guys were awesome, they managed to get the helicopter out to him on a tricky bit of hillside.

“He was at hospital quite quickly, which was so important.”