As Catherine Ryan neared the top of Mount Kilimanjaro last month, she began to experience the altitude sickness that affected many in her climbing team. Considering her struggles with breast cancer in 2002, that was something she could handle.
Ryan, along with her brother and sister-in-law, was part of a group that reached the summit of the African peak as part of the Climb To Fight Breast Cancer.
"It was really interesting," said the Queen Anne resident. "I really wanted to do Kilimanjaro because it's got like five different climate zones. So you're not only doing your major climb, but you're also learning a lot."
Born near Mount Vernon, Wash., Ryan attended the University of Washington and stayed near Seattle after graduating. But in May 2002 her life was turned upside down after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
"My mother had breast cancer, which is why I got tested initially," Ryan said. "I would never have gotten diagnosed in time if my mother hadn't gotten cancer actually."
Ryan had cancer on both breasts; one was a non-invasive ductal cancer, while the other side contained invasive stage-one cancer that was discovered when she went for a second opinion.
The treatment consisted of a double-sided lumpectomy, radiation for both sides and chemotherapy.
"I did chemotherapy and radiation simultaneously, which I don't think people normally do," Ryan said. "But [I did it] because I was so young, and I was pretty fit because I had mountain-climbed and was very outdoors-oriented before I got sick.
"The hardest part was actually the chemotherapy, because your mind is strong but your body has another opinion about the chemicals that are coming in."
As both her mother and father were in treatment or recovery for cancer, Ryan felt as if she needed to put up a strong front for the rest of the family. "I had to be strong for my family," she said. "So I was pretty upbeat about it."
While Ryan was in undergoing the radiation process, her father passed away from his own bout with pancreatic cancer at the age of 94.
But the treatment for Ryan did work, and she was able to make a strong recovery.
"It was a great relief," she said. "It was amazing, I felt really vibrant-I wanted to pursue a lot of things."
One of those things, it turns out, was climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in late July.
"It's a challenge to keep on your own the desire to experience things and do more things than you did when you were well," Ryan said. "And so that was one of the reasons for the climb."
On the way up the 19,340-foot-high peak, Ryan and her companions found that the altitude could be pretty unfriendly. "A lot of people experienced altitude sickness, and I did also," she said.
But in the end, Ryan was able to summit with her brother and sister-in-law.
"It's amazing what you can see from the top of Kilimanjaro; it's not like a lot of far summits," she said. "You can really see the glacial ice-it's really a different color. It's blue from the minerals."
Ryan also pointed out that the nearly perfect crater on the mountain is a very interesting geological site.
Another highlight of the trip was the African safari she went on.
"The animals were amazing, and you can see them in their natural environment," Ryan said. "Even in a city as green as Seattle, you don't see nature as it's really meant to be; it's really pretty here, but it's also very contained."
The summit of Kilimanjaro benefited the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Ryan thinks that she will be doing similar climbs in the future.
"I'm thinking about climbing [Mount] Elbrus with Fred Hutch next year, but I'm also, I think, going to do more climbs with Alpine Ascents," she said. "I'd like to try the Seven Summits except for Everest."
But no matter how many mountains Catherine Ryan conquers in the years to come, none will compare to the one she climbed to be here today-alive and thriving.[[In-content Ad]]
