Denali Chris: I have cancer...cancer does not have me
Jun 15, 2004 21: 15 EST
Published Jun 10, 2004 13: 59 EST
He fought cancer and won, he took a gun shot to the stomach and hauled himself to the hospital. Chris Forbes will not give up the fight, but for now he must abandon Denali and be home with family for a while. Here is Chris' dispatch:
"Today's entry will rank up there with one of the most difficult things I have ever done. For the last couple of days I have developed an excruciating pressure in the back of my head. A symptom I know all too well. The team and I decided that I needed to get it checked out so I made the long trip to Anchorage for an x-ray. The x-ray revealed a pinky nail sized tumor on my cerebellum. No question that all of the symptoms have been there a while. I just thought it might have been the fact that we lost the last 6 out of 10 games.
As one journey ends, another begins. Tomorrow I will head to Los Angeles to meet with my team at Cedar Sinai to figure out our plan of action. I have the utmost confidence in them so please try not to worry. I knocked it out before and I can knock it out again. When I was first diagnosed, I felt as if cancer was destroying me by the second. Not this time.
I know that sometimes you have to fight the battle more than once to win it. We don't always get to choose which obstacles we face in life, but it has always been our choice on how we deal with them. I plan to stay positive and fight another good fight. I have cancer.....cancer does not have me.
McKinley Expedition of Russian Adventure Team has summited Ludmila Korobeshko reports: Anatoly Astashin, Vadim Medvedev, Pasha Nurgaliev, Artem Golovin and Sergey Bruchanov ascended Denali yesterday. The weather was perfect the last day. I had to turn back from the summit. I think this decision was right. When the guys returned in the evening I had edema of the lungs and slight edema of the brain. Pasha found rangers and they gave me oxygen. Anatoly and two rangers helped me to descend to the camp 4200m. I feel much better now. If the weather is good tomorrow we will move down. But the weather forecast within next three days is bad.
Alpine Ascents also has a team on Denali
The Climb 4 Hope expedition up Mt. McKinley is to raise awareness and increase funding for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The team is Chris Forbes, Gary Roth, Steve Roth, Eric Oakley and Claudio Battaglini.
The Russian Adventure team has recently been on trips to Elbrus and Ararat, over in Turkey. They also ran a successful Everest expedition last year and another again this year to the big E. Dave shot over two live videos from the mountain (check WebTV) and some of the best stories along with them.
Mt. McKinley is the highest peak in North America, with an elevation of 20,320 feet.
Image of Denali Base Camp courtesy of Climb4hope.
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