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Featured Image Credit: PA/Alamy Nathan Hulse/Alamy
Gabriella Ferlita
Spencer Matthews is climbing Mount Everest in the hope of finding his brother's body as part of a documentary called Finding Michael, which has been made with Disney+.
Michael Matthews was just 22 when he reached the top of the mountain in 1999, becoming the youngest British person to ever do so.
Tragically, Michael died during his descent from the mountain and his body was never recovered.
But before his passing, Michael told his loved ones some reassuring final words.
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Speaking in a different documentary, Lost In Everest’s Death Zone, his former colleague Jamie Everett - whom he would go on the expedition with - revealed that he came up with the idea to leave his 9-5 and head to Mount Everest after glancing at a magazine article.
He said: “I knew that Mikey had done some climbing as well so we had a little bit of a common interest, so I just went down to his desk, threw down the magazine and said, ‘Do you fancy doing that?’
“And he just looked down at it and said, ‘Yeah, alright then.’”
But while on his first climb, Jamie began to suffer from severe headaches, dizziness and exhaustion - leading the inexperienced climber to feel ‘out of control’ of his body.
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“Physically, I was feeling like I was just going to collapse, feeling like I was losing control of my own body and I was thinking ‘f***, this is it’,” he admitted in the documentary.
After being diagnosed with altitude sickness, Jamie had no other option but to begin his descent in order to recover. This meant that Michael was left on his own.
He said: “Mike was upset that I was going, and I was upset to be leaving Mike. We’d done everything together as a team up until that point.
“My last words to Mike were, well, I told him I loved him and that there were lots of people that were waiting for him at home and not to take any unnecessary risks.”
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To this, Michael’s final words to his friend was: “I know, I won’t. Tell everyone at home I love them, I’ll see you in six weeks.”
Michael’s brother, Spencer, was just 10 years old at the time of Michael's passing.
In a new documentary, the Made in Chelsea star Spencer will attempt to retrace Michael's footsteps and try to find his body.
The Disney+ documentary is planned for release early next year.