Climbing After Cancer - July 19th 6:30 PM

[AAC-PNW]

 

Dr. Michael Linenberger is a professor of Hematology and Medicine at the University of Washington (UW) and he is the Medical Director of Apheresis and Cellular Therapy at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC). As Medical Director of these facilities, Dr. Linenbergers’s clinical work and research activities focus on the safe procurement of blood and marrow stem cells from donors and patients for their subsequent use in stem cell transplantation. These activities are critical for the support of the blood and marrow transplant programs at the SCCA, FHCRC, UW, and Seattle Children’s Hospital. He spends two months per year supervising the inpatient care of BMT patients at UW Medical Center. Dr. Linenberger also maintains an active practice at the SCCA Hematology Clinic, where he manages patients with a variety of benign and malignant blood disorders, including aplastic anemia. Dr. Linenberger is the Medical Director of the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) collection center activities at the SCCA. In that role, he works with NMDP donors who selflessly volunteer to provide their blood or marrow stem cells for an anonymous individual who is in dire need of help. In addition to his local duties, he sits on national standards, applications and governance committees and working groups for AABB and the American Society for Apheresis. He is the author or co-author of numerous evidence-based practice guidelines and book chapters for therapeutic apheresis and cellular therapy collection practices.

 

Matt Fioretti has guided climbing expeditions and treks in the Nepalese Himalaya for fifteen years. April 2011 will be his twenty-ninth season. In August of 2004 Fioretti embarked on the hardest climb of his life with little chance of survival. He was diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia a rare bone marrow disorder. For well over a year Fioretti was in the death zone with red blood cell levels as low as thirty percent of normal and almost undetectable platelet and white blood cell levels. After a year of struggle he finally accepted taking the only and highly dangerous route of a bone marrow transplant. On October 4, 2005 he received the marrow of an unrelated donor, kind of like mixing water and oil and hoping at some point they blend. After twenty-eight doses of chemo and immunotherapy drugs, eighty-seven blood transfusions, full body radiation, and three years of toil he reached the summit, surviving what would be the hardest climb of his life to date. Fioretti’s favorite quote after the experience, "Remember to intentionally tweak your world once in awhile, get out of your comfort zone, it is here where the most growth occurs. Full on security is the denial of life". Fioretti has led fifteen successful climbing expeditions in the Himalaya.

 

Chad Kellogg is passionate about completing first ascents on unclimbed peaks in the purest alpine style—he is also a colon cancer survivor. Dr. Medwell with Polyclinic was able to complete partial removal of the colon in 2007 using cutting-edge laproscopic surgery. This allowed cancer-free Kellogg to quickly return to alpinism. After cancer, Kellogg established first ascents on two unclimbed high-altitude peaks in China (Siguniang and Seerdengpu), a solo first ascent on Aconcagua, and a speed ascent on Everest. Kellogg dreams of establishing first ascents in all major ranges of the world. In the past twenty-seven years he has significant ascents in the Himalayas, Tien Shan, Quonglai, Andes, Karakorum, Pamirs, Nienchentangla, Alaska Range, Kichatna, Rockies, Bugaboos, Sierras, and Cascades. Kellogg also climbs fast. He set the first sub-five hour Rainier record, holds the speed record on Denali, won the Khan Tengri speed challenge, and attempted speed ascents on Aconcagua and Everest—both of which he hopes to finish this year.

Edited July 11, 2011 by AAC-PNW