If you want to help make sure fewer people—men and women, including yourself and your loved ones—never have to go through this, support Breast Cancer Prevention Partners (BCPP.org). They’re an amazing group working to reduce exposure to toxic chemicals linked to breast cancer. Please join me in spreading the word and helping the cause.
Live updates from Mt. Shasta! This inspirational group of 20 volunteer climbers from across the country, featuring 3 mother/son teams, are climbing to challenge the 1 in 8 odds of a woman’s breast cancer diagnosis. Many climb in honor of their own or a loved one’s experience with cancer. Follow the team’s journey up the mountain on a 3-day climb.
Initially slated to climb Mount Shasta in June of 2020, this team of climbers showed extreme tenacity and flexibility. Faced with obstacles across the board, the CAO 2020 Redux team rallied, and were finally able to gather June 9th – 13th in Mount Shasta, California. See their journey!
BCPP taught my mom that certain chemicals, diet, and other environmental exposures might increase the risk of a future breast cancer diagnosis for her young daughters, and it was through BCPP that she learned and became empowered to make informed choices about how to keep us as safe and healthy as she could. My mom’s support for BCPP was her gift to us. And that’s why supporting BCPP is so important to me.
“Through BCPP, I have become an advocate, and by climbing mountains I hope to be a positive influence on others facing what I and so many others face when dealing with breast cancer. “
What a wild roller coaster ride 2020 has been for the Climb Against the Odds. We started out like gangbusters, filling the team in record time and even expanding from the normal team size to accommodate all that were eager to join us. Everyone jumped into fundraising and training with enthusiasm and the BCPP team worked to organize the logistics for our long weekend in Mt. Shasta.
We interviewed Cynthia Curchwell, 5 times New England Peaks for Prevention Hiker who has collectively raised over $15,000 for breast cancer prevention about her motivations for hiking and fundraising to eliminate the causes of breast cancer.
I’m a glamper, not a camper, so when I signed up for this adventure, naturally I was a bit tense. Three days on Mt. Shasta, sleeping on the snow and having to carry everything that belonged to me, (and I mean everything) only scratches the surface of this epic trip I embarked on.
For me, that climb was the ultimate evidence of the quote, “while I had cancer, it didn’t have me.” I was 53, had never seen a 14,179 foot mountain, never mind climb one and yet in June of 2009, four years after my initial diagnosis, I stood on the summit of Mount Shasta in northern California and soaked in the glorious moments of pure joy, of pure living.
