Forum Discussion
The Ultimate Journey for a Cure
As promised, some photos (sorry, only these two will post!) from my Nepalese Trek to the Base Camp of Mt Everest. It was both harder than I could ever have imagined and more rewarding than I could ever have imagined. It was so much better than I thought it would be, the scenery, the people and everything else.
I got there, BUT only because I had a lot of help. Help in preparation and training from the leaders of our trek, Sharon and Allan Cohrs. Help from family and friends, my doctors and especially my husband. Help from fellow Trekkers and our Nepalese guides (especially the extra strong Mingma, who carried my pack whenever I struggled) and our porters (who carried 2 x15+kg duffle bags as well as their own packs!).
We were part of a small group of Queenslanders who took part in the trek to raise money for the Cancer Council. The group shot (with our super-hero cancer fighting bears) was taken at our hotel in Kathmandu before we set off for Base Camp. I am sitting with my legs crossed, hubby behind me.
It took 10 days of walking to get there (slowly because our bodies needed time to adjust to the altitude, 5340m at Base Camp) and 3 big days (7-8 hours walking) to get back down (no altitude issues going down!). We spent the night at Base Camp in one of those small yellow tents you can see in the photo. Minus 12 degrees and ice on the inside of the tent! Most Trekkers just get to spend a short day visit to Base Camp so we were extremely fortunate to go with a company (Everest One) that had negotiated the right to stay overnight.
It was the most amazing experience of my life and I am so glad that I did it. Surviving treatment for bc gave me a new taste for adventure and it taught me that I am tougher than I thought I was. But it also taught me that being part of a team helps you to achieve more than you ever can by yourself.
Sorry I cannot get any other photos to post on my iPad. But for anyone who wants to see more, I have a blog which I will be adding photos to over the next week or so (give me a day or two) in a day by day diary account of our 14 day trek.
https://deanneseverest.wordpress.com
Deanne xxx
22 Replies
No, have never done Kosiosko. So you would be one up on us there! On a serious note the best training we did was Mt Coolum on the Sunshine Coast. This little bump has some pretty steep going and repeat climbs of it, in my opinion, were definitely helpful. The other thing was just walking for 5-7 hours at a time, up as many hills as you can find with a pack on.
A lot of our training was done in National Parks and walking in the bush was the best therapy for me recovering from chemo, radio and learning to live with hormone therapy side effects! Something about being in the natural environment, wherever you are, just does you good. :)
Hope that the rest of your treatment goes quickly and you are soon enjoying life again too! xox
Wonderful! I wish I could go now, right away! But, chemo and radio first. And maybe I should do Kosiosko first. I wonder if you've done that too?
Still such and amazing experience for you.
Paula xxx
My husband took that photo. We are hoping to get it put onto canvas as a constant reminder of what we managed to do. :-)
WOW what an amazing achievement and fantastic experience!
Congratulations on reaching base-camp not at all an easy feat, something that is definitely on my bucket list.Welcome home Deanne.
Warm Regards, Fiona
PS That photo is the mountain is incredible, kudos to whoever snapped that one.
Thank-you. Hug received and returned!
xox
Thank-you. It certainly had more challenges than we ever imagined when we first took it on.
In the end we got there because we knew that it was the only thing we could do to help our trek leader in her new challenge with cancer. Nothing we did was harder than what people go through dealing with cancer on a daily basis. Xox
I'm glad that we never gave up. We did come close a few times but I would always have regretted not trying if we had. I think I realise now that life just happens and all we can do is make the best of the opportunities that come our way. xox
We struggled with Tony getting sick on the day before we were to get to Base Camp. We stayed behind an extra day with one of the guides and only got one night at base camp. The rest of our group had 2 nights! They also had a tour of the ER at Base Camp which was really interesting, especially for the nurse and OT that were part of our group. :-)
We have some amazing photos which will help us to keep the memories alive. I am putting up the first few days worth on my blog today. There was no way I had the energy to do this while we were trekking and the Internet wi-fi was a bit unreliable at times too.
It was incredible to be walking along and see porters carrying heavy loads of supplies and talking on their phones at the same time though. There was phone reception all the way if you had a local sim (we didn't get that organised unfortunately).
We learnt a lot along the way and the Nepalese are so lovely. Very proud but generous people. :-)
