Jacquie For All - -Journeys Of Inspiration

Updated March 18th 2008

Recently my boyfriend Phil and I had the privilege of traveling to Africa to climb Mount Kilimanjaro with a group of 40 people who truly hate cancer. We were a part of what is called "Journeys of Inspiration" which is a new initiative of the American Cancer Society, where I work. 40 of us worked for over a year to train for this climb and raise over $180,000.00 for The American Cancer Society. Each and every one of the 40 participants has been touched by cancer in some way and, almost half are cancer survivors. I signed up to climb as soon as I heard about it because like the others, I hate cancer. My mother is a breast cancer survivor, I lost a grandfather to cancer and I had malignant melanoma four years ago which has since made
me very afraid of the sun. All in all, cancer sucks and I needed to do
something big to show this.

When I heard that Jacquie had been diagnosed with A.L.L. this climb became so much more to me. Phil and I were going to climb our butts off and we were going to do it with Jacquie as our inspiration. If she could handle her situation with the amazing strength and courage that she has shown then we knew we could get to the top of this mountain and we would be thinking of her the whole time. And we did!

The experience was amazing. It was emotional and moving and there�s no way to do something like this and come back the same person. The climb took 8 days and took us up to over 19,300 feet. The hike began in the rainforest (where we saw monkeys!) continued on through the moorland and the high dessert and ended on a glacier. We hiked through rain and hail and clouds and snow. We climbed a 500-foot rock wall and we went to the bathroom outside more times in those 8 days then I ever care to again the rest of my life.

The true test came on summit night. We were awakened by our porters at 10:30pm after about an hour of sleep. We began our hike at midnight up the 3,500 feet to the summit. We all remarked about how happy we were that it was dark because if we had had to see what we were climbing up we may have chickened out. It was a 7-hour straight up hike to the summit.

The air got thinner and thinner the higher we went so breathing became difficult. There were several times that I almost felt like giving up. I thought about my warm sleeping bag and thought how nice it would be to be in it. Then I thought about Jacquie � there�s no giving up for her. She�s fighting everyday, staying strong everyday and believing everyday. If she could do that there was no way I was giving up on this hill. I finally made it to the rim of the crater just as the sun was rising over the curvature of the earth. The peak was another 300 yards and the sun rising gave me a new energy that helped me get there. The view was breath taking (so was the lack of oxygen!) Seeing a glacier that closely was something I never knew I�d do and it was something I�ll never forget. I took a moment at the top to say a prayer for Jacquie. I figured I was that much closer to heaven it would have to get there faster. I know she helped me get to the top and her picture was with me the whole time.

Jacquie didn�t just inspire Phil and I on this climb. Our team of 40 knew her story and I had several hikers come up to me and tell me that they thought of her at their hardest times. She was an inspiration to us all and I�m thankful to know her. A few days after our grueling summit night we were clean and showered and
on safari in the Ngorogoro crater. After a day of seeing zebras and
elephants, cheetahs and lions, we were heading back out of the crater and I took a moment to say a prayer for Jacquie. I looked up and there was a rainbow over the crater. It was such a perfect thing to see after saying a prayer for Jax. It seemed to me like a promise from God � Jacquie was having some pretty grueling times but her rainbow too will be coming;

WE BELIEVE.