What’s Your Everest?
Chris Bombardier on Carstenz Pyramid, one of the Seven Summits |
One of my hemo-heroes! |
Chris Bombardier on Carstenz Pyramid, one of the Seven Summits |
One of my hemo-heroes! |
What is it that makes someone crave climbing hard, cold, dangerous mountains? Is it the challenge? The view? The bragging rights?
I never knew I loved mountains so much until I was well into my 40s and took up rock climbing on a whim. And that was in a gym. When I tried it outside, on New Hampshire’s Cathedral Ledge, a 500-foot sheer drop, I was hooked forever. A combination of fear, exhilaration, adrenaline, relief, and a huge sense of accomplishment flooded me. I knew very well there was a chemical aspect of this as endorphins coursed through my blood, making me feel drunkenly happy. Welcome to my new addiction.
I also knew that the intense concentration I had just experienced for four straight hours made me completely forget the world, any worries, the future, the past. Everything was reduced to, “Find that next nub to put your toe on and hang on for your life.” It was remarkably clarifying, much like skydiving, or even playing a complex piano piece. Such intense focus actually relaxes the brain when you finish the jump or performance. It’s like meditation.
And then, there’s just something inexplicable to me about rocks. I love them. I love the sight of them, color, feel. When I see a pretty rock at my feet, I pick it up to examine it. When I drive down the highway, I scan the dynamited masses on either side and imagine trying to scale them. When I am in Utah, my rock mecca, I just gape at the surreal world of red, striated rocks that reveal the history of the earth, the mesas, the hoodoos. When I get close to rocks, I feel something; energy? I know some people swear by the healing power of certain rocks. I don’t know about that, but I do know being near them makes me feel connected to earth, to life, to the universe.
My view of Kilimanjaro August 2016 |
Climbing is less about the view, and more about the journey, overcoming fears, pushing yourself to extreme limits, wringing out every ounce of strength (and oxygen) in you to see how much you can handle. It’s a psychological test set among the most beautiful places on earth.
Last summer I couldn’t wait to jump out of bed once or twice a week at 4:30 am, grab my gear, and head north to New Hampshire’s Mt. Washington for a 7-hour strenuous hike. You finish utterly wiped out, starving, grimy, sweaty, and deliriously happy. That was in preparation for Mt. Kilimanjaro last August.
Now I am training again—for Everest base came, in two and a half months.
Chris Bombardier |
I’ll be following in the footsteps of mountaineer Chris Bombardier, person with hemophilia B, friend, and fellow board member of Save One Life. Chris also loves mountains, and he is lucky enough to live in Denver, and grew up among rocks. Chris is attempting to complete the Seven Summits, the highest mountains on each of the seven continents. He’s completed five to date (though has “temporarily” been denied access to Mt. Vinson in Antarctica due to his hemophilia). Well, when he was denied, he thought, “I’ll show them! I’ll just climb Everest first!” So Chris will be attempting to summit Everest in early May!
If successful, Chris will become the first person with hemophilia in history to reach all Seven Summits.
He’s done five of them: Kilimanjaro (Africa), Aconcagua (South America), Denali (North America), Elbrus (Europe), and Cartstenz Pyramid (Australia). Now, just Everest in Nepal and Vinson in Antarctica remain.
You may know Chris, a rising star in the hemophilia community. I first met Chris in 2011 at NACCHO, when he was about to climb Kilimanjaro with his uncle, and I was about to climb it a few months after him as a fundraiser for Save One Life. He shared his dream and I heartily approved and told him I would help if at all possible. I’ve followed each of his summits; we helped fund one of them. When no funding seemed apparent and he would get downcast, I told him to stay positive, it will happen; nothing will stop someone with such big and noble dreams. And sure enough, the funding for Everest was daunting, for anyone but especially a young man from Denver. But luckily, I’m not the only one who believes in Chris! Octapharma, a privately owned Swiss company that manufactures blood clotting medicine, funded Chris’s fees and travel entirely!
Best of all, this historical event will be captured on film and made into a documentary by Patrick James Lynch, another rising star in hemophilia, and Believe Ltd.
Chris on Aconcagua, with picture of Brian, a suffering child with hemophilia, Chris’s motivation |
And there is a higher goal, beyond challenging ourselves and setting records in the hemophilia community. Chris wants above all to highlight the gaping disparity in treatment between the developed and developing countries. And as you know, this has been a passion of mine for the past 20 years. I’m thrilled that Chris cares as much as I do about changing the lives of 300,000 people worldwide with no access to factor. In fact, Chris is betting his life on it: a climb up Everest is difficult and dangerous. Chris is taking these risks because his reward is that the spotlight will be put on those who suffer even more.
Save One Life has been working in Nepal for years and we sponsor over 80 people there with hemophilia. We helped provide funding to rebuild homes post-earthquake, and LA Kelley Communications has helped pay for surgeries. It’s a country dear to us all.
So why do we climb? To feel rare emotions—euphoria, extreme exhaustion, deep joy, eternal gratitude. To overcome out fears; to push ourselves to the limits; to do something with lasting impact—a historical climb, a movie about hemophilia; and hopefully to change the lives of our fellow community members who need our help.
And me? I’m going to base camp at 17,600 feet after a nine day hike through stunning vistas (with yaks!), spending two days with Chris, then descending, leaving him to prepare for the climb about a month afterwards. I’ll have some stories to tell, and prayers to leave for my friend, one of the bravest guys I know.
Follow Chris’s preparation and climb on his Facebook blog Adventures of a Hemophiliac.
Jane Cavanaugh Smith (middle), with CoRe managers |
Jane speaking at HFA |
At
Biogen, we took the theme to heart, too. Each day at HFA, we tried to provide
families with new opportunities to meet, learn, and be resilient together. It
was a blast. The Chapter Challenge games brought out altruism and humor as
visitors tried to win donations for their local chapter. The Biogen Peer videos (click here, and here) showcased inspiring role models. Many visitors inquired about our therapies,
so it gave me and my fellow CoRe Managers countless opportunities to get to
know even more people in the hemophilia community. I like to think that
resilient people see meaning and purpose in what they do. I definitely see that in my fellow CoRes. We
build resilience by showing our vulnerability, empathy, understanding, and
appreciation, and gratitude for each other.
Jane interviewing Chris Bombardier |
Biogen’s CoRe managers at HFA |
It’s March, Hemophilia Awareness Month, and yet there are children in developing countries who lie at the fringe of our community, unaware that it’s “their” month, poor, suffering, waiting for help. We do our best to provide factor to these children through Project SHARE. But did you know you can sponsor one of these children through our sponsorship program Save One Life?
Helping us promote our cause is the amazing Chris Bombardier, who just spent 3 weeks in the wilderness, summiting Carstenz Pyramid in Indonesia. Yup, he flew all the way there, and suffered up that enormous mountain (the highest in Oceana–a stand-in for continent Australia) and #5 on his Seven Summits Quest) to raise awareness for hemophilia in March and for Save One Life in particular. How is that for sacrifice and dedication?
Most of us don’t need to go to such an extreme, though Chris so kindly asked me to accompany him (I would have if I didn’t have so much hemophilia-related work going on right now). We can just sponsor a child at only $22 a month. We are trying to get a mere 31 children sponsored in March, one for each day. We’ve almost reached our goal! Just FIVE more! We even have their photos below. Please consider helping us reach our goals to help give them a better life! It’s Hemophilia Awareness Month: Thanks to those who have pledged sponsorship! We hope more blog readers will rally to help these deserving children; what better month to make a pledge than March?
You can read more about Chris’s amazing climb here!
Laurie Kelley, founder, Save One Life |
Great Book I Just Read
Eiger Dreams: Ventures of Men and Mountains by Jon Krakauer
From the mountain-climbing author of Into Thin Air comes nine gripping and informative stories about historic mountain climbs and the intriguing people who climb them. He covers K2, Denali, Everest and the Nordwand (Eiger) interspersing modern day adventurists and alpinists with history of climbing for each mountain. Krakaeur is a great storyteller: no nonsense but infusing his stories with awe, respect and love of the mountains. He also includes his own struggles with each mountain while portraying others’ climbs. Four/five stars.
This will be his most technical climb yet–that means hard! Carstensz Pyramid is the highest mountain in Oceania standing at 16,024 feet above sea level. The mountain is in a remote area of Papua, Indonesia and the climb will involve specialized skills such as rock climbing, rappelling, and a tyrolean traverse. Chris will end the climb with a 4-5 day trek through an isolated region of the Papua jungle.
And he asked me to come with him, mentioning there were a lot of leeches and snakes in those there “isolated regions.” I wanted to go, believe me. One day I will go with him (though we are now narrowed down to Antarctica and Mt. Everest. I have to remind him I am twice his age), if only to base camp.
Chris left Friday, March 6 and has just landed in Bali. He is psyched and raring to go!
You can follow him for the next three weeks on his blog: AdventuresOfAHemophiliac.com
enrolled, who receive direct funding, scholarships, camp funding and microenterprise grants!
And in March, Chris is going to dedicate each day to a child in need. Our goal is to get 35 more sponsored. They are waiting on our website: http://www.saveonelife.net
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