WHEN ten-year-old Mikayla Beames asked Prince Harry if he would climb Kilimanjaro for her, his exact words were 'on your bike'.

Luckily, these men are more than happy to oblige, even if the prince is not up to it.

Design engineer Paul Johnson and his ragtag team of amateur mountaineers are now training hard to climb the 5,895m up Africa's highest mountain.

They are hoping to raise more than £8,000 for Mikayla's charity – Team Mikayla.

The Wantage CofE School pupil set the charity up to help children at Oxford Children's Hospital while she was being treated there herself for cancer at just eight years old.

Mikayla, from Childrey, was diagnosed with brain cancer at the age of four: it has left her with very little vision and she has epilepsy.

Despite that, she has raised thousands of pounds and granted the wishes of 42 children with cancer at the hospital.

On Monday night she was presented with a national WellChild Award for her fundraising, which was when she tried to inveigle Prince Harry into climbing a mountain for her.

The man who will climb Kili for Mikayla, Paul Johnson, got to know her through his daughter Jade, who also goes to Wantage CofE.

Former Icknield School pupil Mr Johnson said: "Mikayla is inspirational, remarkable and amazing.

"My wife Kelsey is a trustee of Team Mikayla and having a local charity you can see what's happening with this money.

"Mikayla is just so selfless: you can be having the worst day of your life, and it will never be half as bad as hers, but the first thing she'll ask is 'how are you today?'.

"She keeps thanking us and we say 'we're doing it for you' – it's a testament to her."

Joining the climb are Mikayla's dad Ian, 36; Mikayla's uncle Brendon Lovell-Moore, 43, from Kettering; Wantage architect Stephen Johns, 45, and Mr Johnson's friend Gregory O'Regan, 42.

They have arranged their trip through travel company Action Challenge and arranged a deal where they pay £8,200 to cover their flights and admin so long as they raise another £8,200 for Mikayla.

They already have more than £14,600 through a series of fundraising events in Wantage, including stalls at the Queen's 90th birthday party.

Mr Johnson, who runs mechanical design engineering firm Oxford CAD Solutions, added: "One of the things that's been absolutely amazing is how keen people are to get on board with a local charity.

"We have had everything from fivers to a single donation of £1,560."

The team are flying out to Africa on January 26 and are training hard around Wantage now.

Mr Johnson added: "My main concern is probably altitude... that and failure: the thought of failure haunts me, I'm not going out there to fail.

"Unless I get told by doctors that I have to come down they'll have to drag me off the mountain with wild horses."

Sponsor the team online at totalgiving.co.uk/mypage/klimbkili