It was shortly after my Kilimanjaro trek that I made a personal commitment to the millions of women suffering from breast cancer and to a Higher Power that spared my life. The result was Expedition Inspiration, a climb up Aconcagua in the Argentine Andes in 1995, the highest mountain outside of the Himalayas. Lou Whittaker's son, Peter, who owns Summits Adventure Travel in Eatonville, Washington, became my partner in Expedition Inspiration. With the help of Peter, who would lead the climb, I put together a team made up of seventeen breast cancer survivors. The goals of our climb were to raise awareness, much needed research funds, and hope.
Cancer is one of the scariest things one can ever face.
Another of the objectives of Expedition Inspiration was to demonstrate that not only is the disease survivable, but one can go on to achieve goals that were otherwise seen as unthinkable. We spent twelve hard days of scrambling over rocks, scree, ice, and snow often in cruel weather, to reach the top. The most emotional part of the climb was shortly before the summit when we radioed down to the trek team at base camp 8,000 feet below us, telling them that we were going to make it. Hearing their elated screams of joy from so far below pushed us on toward the top. At the summit, we radioed down again.