Climbing for a Cause

You may notice that absent from this climb is my Mom, Beth. Although she's a staunch supporter of Rich, my Dad and I realizing this dream of climbing Kili, she can not physically join us.

In 1986, my Mom was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. She was 36 at the time, with three young children, living in a foreign country. Since then, I've seen my Mom battle the autoimmune disease valiantly, every day of her life. There are days when she can barely get out of bed because MS has robbed her of her balance or use of her legs. Then there are other days where she appears fine and can participate in nearly anything until exhaustion gets the better of her and she must rest. Overall, she's inspired all of us to try harder, take each day as a blessing and reach for our goals despite the obstacles in our way.

So, in honor of my Mom, we've decided to climb Mount Kilimanjaro fund-raising for Multiple Sclerosis research every step of the way. We will be hosting events, participating in local walks and hopefully even organizing a walk of our own so that as we reach the summit of the mountain, so too might MS researchers be able to achieve their goal of conquering the disease and finding a cure. We love you Mom and we'll see you at the top!

We're working with The National MS Society to setup a personalized fund raising page. Once that's active you can bet we'll be posting a link to it here! In the meantime, please visit the National MS Society's page and learn more about the disease.

The Beginning of a Life-Long Dream....

In 1994, my Dad took me to see "Kilimanjaro: To The Roof of Africa" at our local IMAX theater. IMAX movies were quite new, and I remember asking my Dad at the time if there was anything cooler showing, like a Disney movie or something. He assured me the movie would hold my attention and I might even learn something along the way. Not exactly what a 7-year-old wants to hear! Little did I know at the time, but that one hour would so totally enchant me that it would lead to me someday making the trek myself, together with my father and husband, to the Roof of Africa.

The IMAX story was narrated by a young girl, very much like myself, with a scientist father, captivated by the world around her. The story follows her journey up the mountain with five other travelers and all that they experienced along the way. I'll save the details about the hike for future blogs, but suffice it to say, I saw too much of myself in that girl, that mountain and that journey to let the opportunity to climb it pass me by.

Over the 15 years since , my Dad and I have talked about climbing Mt.Kilimanjaro together on and off, but never really had the opportunity when our schedules linked up long enough for us to do it. I went away to university, he retired after 30 years with the same oil company, and we both started new chapters in our lives. Now, all these years later, separated by two countries and spanning several birthdays and a marriage, the dream still lives in both of us. But now, we've committed to making that dream a reality and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in the next year and a half. The plan is for me to graduate from my MBA program in May and immediately head to Africa with my husband, Rich. We'll meet my Dad there and begin realizing the dream a Daddy and his daughter have shared for over 15 years.

We hope you enjoy following us as much as we'll enjoy chasing one another to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro!