One Month to Go!!!

As of yesterday I am only one month from the start of my journey to South America and my attempt to summit Aconcagua, the highest peak on the South American continent!  I put a link below to my trip details.  I hopefully will summit around February 8th, but in case of bad weather we have a few extra days built into the schedule.  I will be posting some details soon about how you can follow the progress of my trip.  So please keep checking back soon if you're interested in following!

Training has been going quite well despite the minor bleed I had two weekends ago.  I have been skiing a bunch and my job as a snowmaker is strenuous to stay the least.  I am feeling strong and can't wait to get going on this next adventure.  The pictures below are of my colorful bruise/bleed from the snowmobile and the beautiful scenery I get to work in every day.

Please keep checking in on my climb and please visit my donation page below if you can.  Anything you can give helps immensely!

Save One Life - Quest for the Seven Summits Donation Page

Details of the Climb!!

Rough Weekend

This past weekend was a rough one.  I headed up to the mountains for work late on Thursday night.   Thursday is my prophy day and despite several reminders on my phone I completely forgot to infuse until about 30 minutes before my work shift.  I was in a hurry and of course, it didn't go well.  Not sure what the issue was but I missed twice.  Being desperate and running out of time before work I decided to try for a huge vein on my right arm which meant infusing left handed.  I haven't tried left handed since college but I nailed it!  I was hoping that was the end of the issues for the weekend but early Saturday morning, I abruptly and unintentionally dismounted my snowmobile.  I smacked my thigh and shin on the handlebars of the sled.  I felt okay initially but as the adernaline of the minor crash wore off, I knew I had a few bleeds.  Worked finished up and I immediately reinfused but the damage was done.  I had to skip training the rest of the weekend and even missed work.  I'm feeling much better now despite some nice bruising and being a little sore.  I'm heading back up to the mountains to work again this Thursday night and hopefully I'll be able to stay on the sled.  Training will resume and hopefully there won't be any set backs.  Once again, check out the donation page for my climb if you can.  Despite my minor incident and bleeds, I have it good.  Others with hemophilia really need your help!  Thanks for following my blog and keep checking back for more updates!

Click here for the climb donation page!

This is why I climb.

Yesterday, my mentor and friend Laurie Kelley posted a gut wrenching and painful story of a young boy named Brain with hemophilia.  He lives in Zimbabwe and his story, and those similar stories I have heard while in Kenya make it more and more apparent that we need to help.  Most of you know me as an athletic, active and adventurous person with hemophilia as a minor side note, but this story will show you what hemophilia really is.  I am simply posting Laurie's words and pictures below.

Brian had tears rolling down his cheeks when I asked him to simply lift his arm. He "lifted" it by his shoulders; he cannot hold a cup to drink from. His feet look like balloons. Four of his fingers are grotesquely swollen. I told him we had money to give him, $100--a fortune to him! Some nice man from the States donated it, and Brian promptly looked down at the photo of Jim Morrison (which I had just been admiring). I told him, No... not that guy! We all laughed. Save One Life donors: we ensure your donations get to the kids!

Today at 3 pm, just before heading to the airport, one more African child with hemophilia to visit at the hospital. Imagine my shock: Brian has perhaps the worst care of joint damage and bleeding I have seen in 16 years of traveling to developing countries... he's age 13, weighs only 50 pounds, cannot walk, is an orphan, lives 4 hour bus ride away from the hospital......and he's wearing a Doors t-shirt. He stole my heart.

This is why I want to climb the Seven Summits.  Yes, I want to see if I can, see if I can push myself as far as possible but the main goal is to somehow make a difference in the lives of people like Brian.  Please if you can, donate to my climb.  Any amount helps but mainly, please spread the word.  Send this link and story to family and friends.  And most importantly, if you really want to make a HUGE impact in the life of someone with hemophilia in a similar situation go to saveonelife.net and become a sponsor!  I put the links below for both!  Thank for all of your support!

Click Here to Donate to My Climb!

Click Here to Become A Sponsor!

Ongoing Training and a Donation Page!

On Thanksgiving Day I started my new job at Keystone Resort in Colorado as a snowmaker!  It's an absolute blast and I couldn't have picked a better job to help me with my climbs.  I spend all night running around the mountain adjusting, setting up, and moving all the snowmaking equipment.  Not only is it physically demanding but I work in cold weather and at elevation.  When I get off work at 9:00 A.M. I throw my skis on a knock out a few runs before bed.  I have been loving it and with the lack of snow in the mountains so far this year, I will probably be working there until right before my climb.

On the climb front, I am happy to say that my fundraising page is setup!  Please follow the link below and donate if you can.  Any amount helps tremendously!

http://www.saveonelife.net/seven-summits-quest.php