When I  joined the Climb to Fight Cancer as a part of Luke Timmerman's team of biotech industry professionals planning to trek to Everest Base Camp in March 2020 -- what seems a lifetime ago, back in October 2019 -- I had no idea what was coming.  Like the rest of the world, we watched the COVID-19 pandemic accelerate through Europe, the US, and around the world, eventually resulting in the closing of both access routes to Mount Everest in early 2020 and wondered 'what now?' 

During the uncertain year or more that followed, I watched in awe as the extraordinary scientists at the Hutch pivoted to SARS-CoV-2-related research and as colleagues and peers across the biotech industry did the same, producing high quality tests, vaccines, antibody cocktails, and new antivirals.  As it turns out, other people also noticed the high quality of the work coming out of the Hutch:  as just one example, Trevor Bedford, one of their brilliant young scientists pioneering informatics and statistical methods to study the rapid spread and evolution of viruses including SARS-CoV-2, was recently appointed as an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and received a Genius Grant from the McArthur Foundation in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to the field. 

Happily, we were recently given the green light to reschedule our trek for March/April 2022.  Thus, I am dusting off my trekking poles and starting once again to break in my hiking boots in preparation for the trek.  I'm also kicking off a renewed fundraising push to complete the second half of my fundraising commitment.  Thanks to the generous support of many friends, family members, and current and former colleagues, I've raised $30,905 of my $50,000 commitment, leaving me just $19,095 short of my goal.  

I joined the Climb to Fight Cancer team in honor of my mother Sandi Hoffman, a 23-year cancer survivor, in memory of Alan Hunt, a dear friend from graduate school, and in memory of Anne Geiger, a friend and classmate from law school, but as time passes, it's clear that I will keep having to add to this list:  in just the last two weeks, I learned of another dear friend, mentor, and former colleague recently diagnosed with cancer.  Thankfully, the doctors caught it early and she had a successful surgery, but she will also be starting a course of chemotherapy next month.  I will be climbing with a list of names shared with me by many of my donors, an honor roll of cancer survivors, but also of fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, and friends and colleagues, all lost too soon to this terrible disease.

-----------

In Anne's words:   

"I can almost, almost see how people might think of cancer as a positive thing. For all that I feel like cancer is this void that takes and takes and takes, there are things cancer has given me:

-A sense of clarity about what my priorities are; that old joke about nobody ever wishing they had spent more time at the office has never seemed more true.

-An overflowing love for my husband, my children, my family, that keeps me getting up in the mornings.

-A drive and desire to accomplish thing, things I might never have tried to do otherwise.

-An understanding of who my friends are ... .

But thing is? I feel like I could have come to those realizations almost any other way. Please, God, almost any other way. I would rather not have my friendships tested to the breaking point. I would rather not have had to leave my job to realize how I valued my family above it. I would rather not have to live in fear of losing my family to learn how much I love them. I get the sense that these women who think of cancer as a gift are not stage IV, are older, are not faced with potentially leaving their whole world behind at not-quite-forty."

Anne's strength, courage, and candor in confronting all of these feelings continues to inspire me. 

-------

Cancer is a devastating disease, estimated to strike one in three women and one in two men in their lifetimes. I am climbing to raise vital funds for Fred Hutch’s lifesaving research. You can help by donating to my climb, which will accelerate the quest for cures.

Every dollar raised by our team will support the work of scientists at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington. 

If you're unfamiliar with it, you should know that scientists at the Fred Hutch have made some of the world’s most important medical advances — from developing bone marrow transplantation as a cure for leukemia, to pioneering powerful therapies that harness the immune system to fight cancer, to leading national and international initiatives that enable earlier cancer diagnoses and more effective treatments. This leading-edge research depends on private contributions that fuel novel studies, which have the power to make a profound difference.

Please click the “Donate” button and give to the Climb to Fight Cancer. Any amount you can give makes a difference to people and families facing deadly diseases. Your gift is 100 percent tax deductible and will fund extraordinary research, lifesaving discoveries, and cures.

Also, if you're donating in memory of someone close to you, I would be grateful if you would share your story and the name of your loved one with me.  I plan to bring a list of all those names with me on the trek to Everest Base Camp -- I will work my way through the list whenever my energy is flagging and I need additional inspiration to keep going. 

Thank you for your support!