Eight-year-old Frans Du Plessis will be uppermost in the minds of Alexandra firefighters as they race up the Sky Tower on Saturday.
For them, the smiley Omakau lad is the "face'' of their fundraising efforts.
The eight-strong Alexandra Volunteer Fire Brigade contingent will be among 850 firefighters from around the country racing up 51 floors of the Sky Tower in full firefighting kit.
They gain sponsorship for their efforts and proceeds go to Leukaemia and Blood Cancer New Zealand, which provides resources and support services for people with leukaemia and blood cancers, and their families.
Frans was diagnosed with leukaemia in February and started a round of chemotherapy last week. His parents, Nadia and Dewald, said his treatment would take about three years.
Mr Du Plessis said the organisation's support was outstanding, allowing the family to focus on Frans.
The family was grateful to the firefighters for taking up the challenge.
"It's overwhelming what these guys are doing to help - they're doing an awesome job,'' Mr Du Plessis said.
Frans said it was "very nice'' the firefighters wanted to help people like him.
This will be the 10th year a team from Alexandra has taken part in the challenge and two members, Mark Hutton and Kevin Malcolm, have competed every one of those years.
For the first time, the brigade has two generations of one family involved - Mr Malcolm and his son Sam. Kevin has been a firefighter for 26 years and Sam has been in the brigade a year, so this is his first time in the challenge.
"It's really good being able to personalise what happens to the funds that are raised - seeing those funds make a difference to people like Frans and his family,'' Kevin said.
The event raised more than $1 million last year.
Alexandra was the first South Island team to enter the event and Mr Hutton said it had donated more than $46,000 over the years.
"That's come from the small but generous local community of Alexandra and the surrounding districts,'' he said.
Central Otago is well represented in the challenge this year, with teams from Alexandra, Clyde, Cromwell, Frankton, Lake Hawea, Naseby, Omakau, Wanaka and Queenstown brigades.
Anyone wanting to donate can go online and click on firefightersclimb.org.nz and sponsor a local firefighter.
