Print
E-Mail
tool name
closeClimbing for a cause
Local man reflects on his new mountain mission after nearly losing his life
Nate Hulings
When Ryan Christensen, 21, had surgery in March to have his swollen tonsils and adenoids removed, he thought it was what any responsible mountain climber would do.
The inconvenience of a day in the hospital would eliminate the chances of a medical emergency during a climb, which could not only endanger himself but everyone else on his team.
Six days later and sleeping in his own bed, Christensen awoke choking on blood and soon had lost more than half the blood in his body.
“It was the scariest moment in my life,” Christensen recalls.
Doctors couldn’t explain why his recently cauterized veins in his throat had burst. They also spoke bluntly about his chances of recovery.
“The doctors said ‘You might not make it.’”
For more than a month the mountain climber went from one hospital to the next. Enduring seven surgeries and nine emergency room visits, Christensen was even given a “Red Carpet VIP pass” for prompt emergency room attention because of potential fatal blood loss.
But with all the mystery behind his condition, what didn’t need to be explained to the 21-year-old was why this had happened to him.
The answer for Christensen transcended medical definitions and procedures. It was bigger than himself or the seven mountain peaks he had conquered. He was finally beginning to understand the value of life and saw his purpose for climbing take a new course.
“It’s like God said ‘I’m going to open your eyes so you can be a true, compassionate person.’”
Now out of the hospital where he had racked up nearly $80,000 in medical bills with no health insurance, Christensen looked to his past actions to recalibrate his future.
Before the mountains of bills and arms filled with holes from transfusion needles, Christensen climbed mountains. As president of the Edgewood Boy Scout Venture Crew, the outdoorsman planned weekend events for his troop including climbing Mount Rainier and cave exploring.
But when a close family friend was diagnosed, and eventually beat, breast cancer, Christensen saw a new opportunity to combine his passion for climbing with service to others by participating in Fred Hutchinson’s Climb to Fight Breast Cancer. However, that wasn’t enough. The climb was still about him; reaching the summit was still only a personal goal.
“I was a young man wanting to climb Mount Rainier,” Christensen said. “Fred Hutch was a vehicle for that and people didn’t relate to me before I had been hospitalized.”
That perception changed after he nearly lost his life.
While watching people in the hospital die every day from cancer and other conditions as he continued to live and persevere changed Christensen’s outlook on life, although his physical appearance also changed rapidly during his stay.
Losing 20 pounds in two weeks at the hospital while turning a shade of green that is usually reserved for the terminally ill, he no longer was climbing for the sick, he was the sick.
“It sounds cliché but you can’t truly be in the other person’s shoes until you experience it for yourself.”
Slowly but surely, Christensen recovered and was released from the hospital April 16.
But left behind at the hospital was his philosophy about personal glory, replaced by embracing life and while continuing the climber’s mentality of adventure.
“At one time I thought I was all that,” Christensen said. “I’m now looking at things by what I can bring back. No longer on how it makes me feel, but why. Life begins at the edge of your comfort zone and without mountains, what kind of drive do I have?”
Christensen points toward his next goal, Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, and couples it with a new affirmation for life and purpose while raising money for breast cancer research.
“Once my throat is healed, it’s healed—but cancer, it comes back,” Christensen said. “Climbing mountains is nothing compared to what patients go through.”
Fellow climber and friend Andrew Cropp, 23, sees Christensen’s second chance as more than just a chance to climb.
“He’s trying to get his name out there and do it for a good cause, not just because he loves the sport but for a reason.”
Christensen plans to leave for Africa in August to climb Kilimanjaro. He also planned on climbing Mount Elbrus, a mountain in the Caucasus range in Russia, but his extended hospital stay forced him to cut back.
Cropp had also planned on making the climbs with Christensen but backed out because of the deep financial commitment.
For a man who nearly lost his life and has climbed to some of the highest points of the world it’s not surprising Christensen cherishes the simple things in life.
“The last four years I put a lot of my relationships aside for my own personal goals. I didn’t put my full self into relationships. I now realize that I am extremely, extremely rich in family and that includes the people I climb with.”
Cropp always saw Christensen as a motivator and a big dreamer and seeing his friend’s resolve through tough times only solidified this notion.
“He’s all about living life,” Cropp said. “He’s just a great person to be around and he lifts people’s spirits.”
Now that his personal life and mission for why he climbs has a strong foundation, Christensen looks at climbing the mountain of medical bills and raising money for Fred Hutchinson with the same motivation.
Christensen started a Web site, www.whatsyourreason.org, where he says people have donated thousands of dollars to the Climb to Fight Breast Cancer fund and also for his Kilimanjaro climb. Despite the generosity of many donors, Christensen is behind in funding and needs to raise thousands more dollars or he may have to absorb some of the cost himself. The fundraising minimum for the Kilimanjaro climb is $10,000 and has a deadline of July 21.
The Climb to Fight Breast Cancer program has raised more than $2.8 million over the last 10 years for breast cancer research.
Christensen is also using his Web site to collect stories from breast cancer survivors in hopes of pitching the idea to the authors of “Chicken Soup for the Soul.” A book in the series has already been penned on breast cancer survivors but Christensen hopes to make a sequel.
If enough stories come into his Web site and a deal is struck, Christensen may be able to begin paying off some of his medical bills and also help share the trials and triumphs of so many people who have struggled with breast cancer past and present.
“It’s always about pushing the envelope of what is possible,” Christensen said. “And the fight has just started.”