Verena Doolabh, 30, was in Dubbo last week pushing her fundraising campaign as she prepared for her big adventure to Everest.

On September 4 2006 she was shot in the spine after a gunman opened fire on a tourist group she was travelling with in Amman.

Verena was instantly paralysed from the waist down and said that at the time she immediately thought the worst.

“Being a doctor the first thing that went through my head when I was shot was ‘I’m going to be in a wheelchair’,” she said.

But immediate surgery to remove the bullet would see her eventually walk again.

“I was very determined to get better no matter how hard it was,” she said.

“It took me six months to learn how to walk again.”

Verena believed that because she was given a second chance at life she would use it to raise the awareness of spinal injuries.

“I believe the experience has made me a better doctor.

“My patients seem glad at the fact that I can relate to them in some way.

“I want to be able to help and raise money and awareness for spinal research so that maybe one day in the future they can do more for spinal injury patients.”

Verena will climb Mt Everest with her mother Vanita and four of

her friends, and aims

to raise more than $10,000 for Spinal Care Australia.

“I was so fortunate to be able to walk again after the attack and now I just really want to help others out there that who weren’t so fortunate.”

So far Verena has raised $3200 and anyone interested in donating to the cause can visit www.spinalcare.org.au and follow the links to Verena’s climb.

Mt Everest won’t be Verena’s first big climbing adventure, she has already conquered Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in 2005.

Her climb to Everest base camp will see her trek to 5500-metre altitudes.

anna.yeo@ruralpress. com