Prostate Cancer Climb Reaches Summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro

The Tanzanian guides who lead climbers up the hellish slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa have a wonderful way of pulling their clients out of their misery: They sing to them when the going gets tough.
    The songs in Swahili usually begin in the dark hours before dawn as climbers on the ascent struggle to stay alert, their minds numbed by the cold and their bodies too tired to take another step.
    "Pole-pole," one guide hums out loud. "Go slowly."
    "Kilimanjaro akunamatata," says another. "Kilimanjaro, no problem."
    For one special team that attempted the 19,340-foot summit last month, the tortoise (vs. hare) strategy paid off. Climbing for an expedition known as the Prostate Cancer Climb, three men diagnosed with cancer reached the summit.
    "Prostate cancer hits men hard every year," said Dr. Terry Weyman, a Los Angeles sports chiropractor who founded the Prostate Cancer climb in 2001 following the loss of his father. "In the ongoing battle to gain awareness and research funding, count this as a victory."
Weyman's father, Hollywood television production manager Hap Weyman, became one of more than 32,000 American men to die from prostate cancer each year. In 2003, over 220,000 men will be diagnosed.
    Weyman led the first Prostate Cancer Climb up 22,840-foot Mt. Aconcagua, Argentina, the highest peak in the Western Hemisphere. Mt. Kilimanjaro, also one of the famed Seven Summits, is the highest mountain in Africa.
    Despite the encouragement of the guides and careful attention to acclimatization, the 4,000-foot elevation gain on summit day took its toll. Ironically, the cancer survivors fared better than some of their counterparts. Executive Director Glenn Weaver of the Prostate Cancer Research Institute, the non-profit organization sponsoring the climb, succumbed to high altitude sickness and had to be whisked off the mountain on a stretcher. The ordeal left him weak and his vision blurry for days.
    Several others had to be rushed down from the summit as well, nauseous and dehydrated by the time they returned to high camp.
    Bruce Hestad, a 56-year-old prostate cancer survivor from South Dakota, used the mountain as a metaphor for his own health struggles.
    "When you are at your weakest moment and want to quit, you cannot," Hestad said. "We learn to pull from within when faced with difficult situations and that's what the survivors did to get to the top."
    Despite his cancer surgery and the weakening effects from hormone therapy, Hestad prepared for the ordeal by following a strict regimen of exercise and diet. He became the team's first prostate cancer survivor to reach a major summit. Cancer veteran Ken Malik, 58, was the oldest. Two men in their 60s and 70s attempted the climb, but didn't make it.
    "Reaching the summit of Kilimanjaro exemplifies that cancer needn't be a death sentence" said Malik, first diagnosed with prostate cancer eight
years ago. "One can live a rich life and even tall mountains are within
reach."
The group is looking at Mt. Elbrus, Russia, the highest peak in Europe, as its next goal. For more information about the Prostate Cancer Climb, visit www.prostatecancerclimb.org.






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