Want to Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro for a Good Cause?

I did last year. Now it’s your turn!

Registration for Survivor Summit, a LIVESTRONG-partnered event I participated in as part of the inaugural 2012 team, opens today for its February 8-21, 2014 expedition…

This is an opportunity to fundraise $10,000 for cancer programs and services, and challenge yourself as you climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, the world’s tallest freestanding mountain and one of the “seven summits.” This time around, you’ll head up the Rongai route to the roof of Africa. And as a reward, you’ll go on a safari after the climb to the Ngorongoro Crater.

No previous climbing experience is required; just a good attitude and a strong desire to kick cancer to the curb.

For more information, CLICK HERE.

You know this will be the experience of a lifetime. So go ahead, apply! Good luck!

The Journey Is the Reward

In 2006, I was a pretty immature undergraduate student who hadn’t traveled anywhere outside of the United States. Lucky for me, I was able to participate in a unique study abroad experience called Semester at Sea (SAS), an accredited educational program aboard a converted cruise ship that integrates multiple-country study and interdisciplinary coursework for meaningful engagement in the global community.

My particular trip was a 65 day summer voyage around the Pacific Rim; we sailed from Mexico to Hawaii, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam (with an airplane ride to Cambodia), South Korea, Hong Kong, China, and Japan to San Diego. I witnessed extreme poverty, beautiful cultures and people, ancient temples and structures, and densely-populated urban environments, all of which fueled my desire to engage in service-related endeavors, and keep seeing as much of the world as possible. SAS helped me grow up, and the experience truly helped shape me into the person I am today.

Fast forward a few years later, and as you know, I was fortunate enough to be involved with the incredible organization known as Survivor Summit.

Well, a few months ago, I updated the SAS alumni relations office with news about our group’s successful climb to the roof of Africa. I opened up my mailbox today to find a copy of SAS’s Fall 2012 publication, Shipmates, and saw that Survivor Summit got a shout out. The short blurb states that,

“Lisa and her Survivor Summit teammates summitted Mt. Kilimanjaro on July 2, 2012, helping to raise more than $200,000 to benefit cancer programs at LIVESTRONG. Lisa credits her SAS experience with the inspiration to help those facing challenges.”

I think it’s worth noting that SAS really gave me the confidence to challenge myself. This lesson came in handy when I stood for 46 hours to fight pediatric cancer with Penn State’s Dance MaraTHON in 2007, and rode a bike 4,500 miles with Texas 4000 for Cancer in 2009. And that’s what my climb up Kilimanjaro with Survivor Summit in July was all about as well. In fact, Survivor Summit’s mission is to empower individuals and provide inspiration, motivation, and hope for those among us facing uphill battles. 

So thank goodness for the cool experiences I’ve had and for the amazing perspectives on life that I’ve gained as a result. I know I’ll cherish and grow from them for many years to come.

And after a long return to work post-holiday weekend, this magazine was a welcome and happy surprise in my mailbox, too. For want of SAS frozen yogurt from the MV Explorer’s seventh deck snack bar, I’m going to have to reward myself with some dark chocolate instead.

Sometimes, I Need to Follow My Own Advice

After a challenging couple of weeks (I’ve had some annoying health issues, and I spent Thanksgiving night sick and away from my family), I realized how important it is to gain from a little bit of perspective.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that today, I stumbled upon this LIVESTRONG blog post from a few months back, before our team’s departure for Kilimanjaro. When asked about my summit, I answered that I want to “keep challenging myself in ways that I can continue to give back and grow as a person.”

And when writing about what LIVESTRONG means to me, well, let’s just say I needed this lesson today: “[it means] being empowered to: be proactive and take action in one’s life; to keep going when the going gets tough; and to tackle each and every day with a combination of grit and grace.”

So even during rough times, I just need to remind myself to hang in there, recognize that I’ve got it really good, and keep moving forward. I wasn’t feeling very thankful on Thanksgiving, but I sure am now.

Partners in Climb

Today was the LIVESTRONG Challenge in Austin, Texas. My Survivor Summit teammates and I had a chance to reunite several months after summitting Kilimanjaro together to fight cancer. I had a blast seeing my teammates again and riding bicycles with them, too!

And while not everyone could make it out to Austin, we were still together in spirit—evidenced most poignantly by (our summit guide/expedition leader) Chris Warner’s message to us on Saturday morning:

“…make us proud this weekend. i am sitting below everest and thinking about all of you. Chris”

It’s pretty incredible that we spent a little less than two weeks together as a group, and that we’ve been fortunate enough to leave imprints on each other’s lives. And while we never may be teammates climbing a 19,341 foot peak again, one thing is for certain:

We are all friends for life, and partners in climb.

…and now, before this post gets too cheesy, this was the follow up message from Chris’ original, just a few hours later:

“just getting back to the tea house from everest base camp. hopefully you miscreants aren’t still at the bar. but if you happen to be have a beer for me.”

Ah yes, my teammates and I had plenty of fun, and we are thick as thieves.