“Never give up…Never, ever give up”

Posted on March 31, 2025 by Angus Mccoll - feature stories

You may remember Paul Hockey from new’s stories years ago. He was the guy with one arm walking the hills around Cairns in preparation for a seemingly impossible dream – climbing the tallest mountain in the world, Mount Everest.

Paul was a very special guest on our charity evening. He has an extraordinary story to tell and people will pay to hear it. He is a professional, motivational speaker promoting his story and his motto “Never give up…Never, ever give up!” For us, he generously donated his time and effort on a Saturday night to FHC. The audience was captivated by his humble account of his extraordinary life and the economical and emotional cost of conquering his goal. His skills as a motivational speaker were obvious as he had the entire audience in silent awe of his every word.

Paul lost his arm to cancer when he was just months old. Despite his disadvantage, he was brought up to believe in himself and so he set out to prove it. Not only did he plan to conquer Mount Everest, he was going to do it from the more-difficult northern side, via Tibet. He had no mountaineering experience. He was an accomplished martial-arts sportsman with three black belts but he knew nothing of climbing mountains.

His first attempt failed just 280 metres from the top. That just inspired him to try harder and, at the cost of his house and his marriage, he tried again. Success came on Sunday the 5th June 2005 at 7.42am, the first handicapped person to reach the summit.

Thank you Paul. Paul has a website:
https://www.paulhockey.com