“My mission ended very differently than I had expected, but I did not fail. I have attempted Everest twice. I took multiple sclerosis (MS) to the highest it would allow me to go. As the medical staff at base camp have documented, the bar has been set. I am a mountaineer, an adventurer, an explorer. And I’m not done yet.” – Wendy Booker, May 2010

Wendy Booker was on a mission to be the first person with MS to climb The Seven Summits — the highest mountains on each continent. Although she has been unable to conquer Everest physically, she has most definitely conquered it in spirit.

Wendy’s Life Mission

Wendy is on a mission to raise awareness of MS on a global scale — to educate, motivate, encourage, and inspire by sharing her own story. Climbing The Seven Summits was only one means toward that end.

As a motivational speaker and educator for 11 years, Wendy isn’t even sure how much money she has raised. Although she has sat on the boards of several foundations, she is not affiliated with any one particular MS organization. It is an intentional strategy that enables her to work for any and all organizations and foundations around the globe wanting to help people with MS and work toward a cure.

A Little Background

Wendy is a 55 year-old mother of three who divides her time between Massachusetts and Colorado. Originally from Rye, New York, she attended Westminster College in Salt Lake City and graduated from Ohio University in 1976 with a major in Education and a minor in Theatre and English. She has also worked as an interior designer.

The diagnosis of relapsing/remitting MS came in 1998 after numbness in her legs lasted for several months and eventually resulted in a fall. The numbness in her left foot and left side are symptoms that remain with her. The diagnosis was difficult to accept, but it didn’t have her down for long. She soon set out to find new ways to express herself and stay physically active.

She turned to running marathons, eventually completing nine. Then she got hit with the mountain climbing bug. Never having climbed before, she found a team of mountain climbers with MS who were attempting to climb Mt. McKinley in Alaska. Foul weather prevented the team from completing the climb in 2002, but Wendy gave it another try in 2004 and met with success.

If you can conquer one mountain, why not two… or seven? Within four years, Wendy managed to get to the top of six of The Seven Summits — Kilimanjaro, Denali, Mt. Elbrus, Mt. Aconcagua, Mt. Vinson Massif, and Mt. Kosciuszko. She attempted Everest in 2009 and again in 2010.

Why Not Everest?

“It became intuitively obvious both this year and last season that the prolonged exposure to a lack of oxygen made my MS symptoms worse. The symptoms I have had for the past 12 years became more pronounced. I also had numbness on the left side of my face, my left fist, and forearm. Now that I’m back home in nice thick sea level air, I am getting back to my old self. I recently ran a 10k road race and felt great.”

“It does follow that since MS is a disease of the central nervous system and if the brain is not getting enough oxygen for an extended period of time this would effect the body. My plan all along, as I began this mission eight years ago, was to see just how hard and how high I could push my MS. The bar was set on Everest and I am incredibly proud and pleased that I went as high as I did… twice! That is the key element to my speaking and mission — we can’t give up — we have to try and try again.”

When asked if she will attempt Everest again, the competitive athlete in her shows, “Never say never, right? But I am not planning to return to Everest at this time. I am ready to take on my next mission.”

So What is the Next Mission?

“I want to continue to circumnavigate the globe with and for MS, since we know MS is a very global disease. I am commencing training to run the New York marathon in November, which will be my tenth marathon in honor of Team Copaxone’s Ten Years and Counting.” (Note: Copaxone® is one of several disease-modifying drugs for MS and Wendy is sponsored in part by Teva Neuroscience.)

“But that’s not all! I am planning to head to the North Pole next spring! This is another extreme endurance sport which highlights my life with MS and how we need to dig in for the long haul. My endurance at pushing back at MS and my encouragement to others living with this illness that we can endure and live a very long and interesting life despite the diagnosis.”

High Expectations

As a person living with MS, I cannot help but turn my thoughts to those among us who have more challenging symptoms, or progressive MS, so I just had to ask the question, “Not all of us with MS can (or want to) climb mountains. Do you worry about setting impossible expectations for other people with MS?”

“I have always used the mountains as a metaphor for what life with MS is really like. We can’t always get to the top… we have to try harder and dig deeper. I’m not asking people with MS to climb a mountain (although I have always said I would love the company), but I am telling them that they have their ‘mountain.’ Maybe your mountain is learning a foreign language or getting a college degree. The mountain can be any challenge you thought you could no longer achieve once you received an MS diagnosis. I say why let the MS stop you? Take on that mountain and go as high as you want. Not only did you do it, you did it with MS! You are already a winner just by virtue of making the attempt!”

“I want to add that a good deal of my focus is on young people just finding out they have MS. Their lives are just starting and now they have this frightening diagnosis. To them I want to say, ‘go for it!’ All the plans and dreams you had before MS… don’t stop… start!”

The Other Side of Everest Educational Foundation

Wendy is Founder and CEO of The Other Side of Everest Educational Foundation, serving the troubled, impoverished communities that make the sport of mountain climbing possible, and segue that service into inspiration and perspective for US youth who also face poverty and despair. This pairing of children helping children to make the world a better place will bridge the long miles between Nepal and the US and create a bond of hope for a bright future. Wendy donates a portion of her earnings from speaking engagements and DVD sales to the Foundation.

Wendy Booker, Explore with Me: http://wendybooker.net/ * Climb with Me: http://wendybooker.wordpress.com/ * Contact Wendy

Kudos to Wendy and “different endings.” We’ll be keeping an eye on the North Pole…

Related Reading on Care2 – Multiple Sclerosis: Who Gets It and Why