March 03, 2007

Heart Recipient Conquers Andes Climb

This is an awesome story. A woman who received a heart transplant over 10 years ago has free climbed an unexplored peak in the Andes. Free climbing is rock climbing that involves relying entirely on your own strength and balance to ascend a rock face or mountain. Ropes are present only for safety but aren't used to assist in climbing. In addition to this accomplishment, she has also climbed Mount Fuji, Mount Kilimanjaro, and the Matterhorn (the one in Switzerland, not the one in Disneyland). Only 10 months after her transplant, she hiked up the backside of Half Dome in Yosemite. Interestingly, she was 35 years old when she got sick, and her condition was cardiomyopathy caused by a virus--exactly the same as me! What a wonderful testament to the strength of the human spirit and the refusal to let medical conditions rule your life.

Read the whole article here.

Posted by Shelby at March 3, 2007 12:40 PM
Comments
Sadly, Further Comments Have Been Disabled ...

Due to a never-ending flood of comment spam, we've decided to disable comments for all blog entries past a certain age. If you'd like to comment on a closed blog entry, say something in one of the newer entries or E-mail the author.

-- Apologies, The happybeagle.com Management