Record-Journal 12/27/2007
By Jeffery Kurz
Record-Journal staff
MERIDEN — Chantal Laliberte has been hiking up to Castle Craig a lot lately. It’s the best training available locally for a much larger climb she’s about to make.
Next month, Laliberte, a breast cancer survivor, will climb Mount Kilimanjaro as a way of raising money for Susan G. Komen For the Cure.
The Meriden resident, a 1980 graduate of Maloney High School, said the idea arose in a rather serendipitous way while she was undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment in 2003 at Mid State Medical Center. When friends and family expressed concern, “I’d say, don’t worry, when this is done I’ll be climbing Mount Kilimanjaro,” she recalled.
“And when I started thinking about it, I thought it was something I really wanted to do,” she said.
It has taken awhile to get physically back to the point where she is now, at the threshold of making that goal a reality. In the meantime, Laliberte, an accountant, earned a degree in experiential health and healing at The Graduate Institute in Milford.
Laliberte hopes to raise a dollar for every foot of the climb. Kilimanjaro, the largest summit of the African continent, peaks at 19,559 feet.
The climb will be led by Amy Frank, a breast cancer survivor and Toronto resident who first scaled the mountain on behalf of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation in 2005. This will be her ninth climb of the Tanzanian mountain. Since that first climb, more than $165,000 has been raised for breast cancer research.
Climbers pay for transportation and the cost of the climb on their own. All the money raised goes to the organization of their choosing. Details about the participants of the upcoming climb are on the Web, at www.upkili.com. Donations, accepted until the end of January, can also be made via the Web site.
For Franks, scaling one of the tallest mountains in the world was a way of capturing a sense of empowerment following a serious illness.
“I thought, gosh, if I feel this wonderful I know others who might feel the same empowering feeling I felt,” she said.
“None of us choose to climb the cancer mountain, but once you finish treatment you can choose to climb a mountain,” she said.
Mountain climbing is becoming an increasingly popular way of raising money for causes, said Andrew Springsteel, operations director for Tusker Trail, a Kilimanjaro trekking company that’s operated for 31 years. About $4.6 million has been raised since 2003, he said.
The company handles from 80 to 90 summit treks a year, said Springsteel, and about 10 to 15 are climbs for a cause.
“It’s a great event to surround your fund-raising cause with,” he said. “Folks get really fired up about it.”
“For me, the climb was really a celebration of what I’ve been through, because it’s a climb with other survivors,” said Laliberte. “Unless you’ve been through what I’ve been through, you don’t understand so well; but other survivors will.”
The Kilimanjaro climb is a 10-day expedition, up and down. It’s not a technical climb, there’s no use of ice picks or crampons, but it is a demanding hike. Climbers are expected to be able to walk at least six hours daily. It’s summer there, which means 90-degree temperatures at sea level and considerably colder climes in the ascent. There’s also the altitude factor. Laliberte said it’s hard to predict that effect.
Laliberte is no stranger to long walks, at least. In 2000, she trekked across northern Spain. This trip will be her first to Africa.
“I’m not so focused on goals as I am in the journey of it all,” she said. What matters, she said, is that the message gets out about the cause.
“The before-cancer me would have been more focused on the goals,” she said. “It’s important to have goals, but it’s not the end-all and be-all.”
There’s also a spiritual aspect to Laliberte’s effort, what she calls “tapping in to a higher source – once you tap into that you can do anything.”
“I learned on that Spain trip how to access a place in yourself,” she said. “It’s the same with cancer, when you’re going through that you have to get to that inner-strength place. Once you can do that, it’s really helpful.”
Laliberte, who also volunteers at Mid State, says she doesn’t regard her cancer as a bad experience. “I’ve gotten so many good things from that experience, I can’t say that I wish it never happened,” she said. “It’s totally changed my life.”
Along with the upkili.com Web site, donations supporting Laliberte can be made to: Susan G. Komen for the Cure – Kili Climb, 350 Church St., Metro Center, Lobby level, Hartford 06103.
To see photos of the climb, click here http://www.upkili.com/web_cast.htm