Almost one year ago, advertising director Ben Grant he was left struggling to breathe and in need of major surgery after suffering two collapsed lungs.

Now, the 28-year-old has stunned doctors by climbing part of Mount Everest. Mr Grant undertook the expedition to raise money for lung research at the Heart Hospital, UCLH and Nightingale — a care home for older members of the Jewish community.

Chair of Young Nightingale, Mr Grant tells People: “My surgeon had previously climbed Everest and so this put the idea into my head. Some doctors had warned me not to do it but I wanted to.” The hardest part he says, was the breathing. “I have a shallow lung capacity and because of the lack of oxygen I would take 15 steps and then have to stop to get my breath back. The -25 degree temperature was also hard.”

Mr Grant, the founder of Addirect, spent two-and-a-half weeks climbing to the Everest base camp where there is 50 per cent less oxygen than at sea level. He climbed more than 19,000ft, raising £11, 000.

He lives in St John’s Wood, North London, where he is a member of St John’s Wood Synagogue.