People climb mountains for the thrill and the view. They fight breast cancer because they have no other choice.
In the end, though, the process is pretty much the same: They take one step at a time, even when they're so weary and discouraged they don't think they can endure another minute.And sometimes, as Pat Hales discovered last weekend, the two climbs - the literal and the metaphorical - merge.
Hales, who was diagnosed with cancer in 1992 and was treated with chemotherapy that left the nerve endings on her feet damaged, walked 19 miles up and down Mt. Timpanogos Saturday as part of "A Climb of Courage."
The hike - to the 11,750 summit - drew breast cancer survivors, as well as family and friends of women who have not been so lucky, in a commemoration and celebration.
"There were times on the trail when I didn't think I could make it," said Hales after she had trudged to the peak. "And then I thought of the people who were waiting for me at the top and I thought of the prayer flags, and I thought: `I've just got to show up.' "
The red prayer flags included the names of 50 cancer patients. Some of the names celebrate those who have survived; some are of those who have died, including a few women who were alive when Hales began organizing the climb this past spring.
One of the names was that of Lola Tucker Sanchez, whose four sisters did the climb in her memory. One of the sisters, Leanne Geigle, carried a pair of Sanchez's favorite slippers in her backpack up Timpanogos.
Hales, who likes to wear her "Pat 10, Cancer 0" sweatshirt to remind her that women can beat cancer, dreamed up the hike after seeing "Expedition Inspiration." The PBS documentary chronicles the climb of 17 breast cancer survivors up Argentina's 23,000-foot Mt. Aconcagua in 1995.
Mt. Timpanogos is no Mt. Aconcagua, of course. But the trail is long. And the last section, from the saddle to the jagged peak, is exposed and forbidding, especially if you aren't fond of heights.
Arleen Barrell, one of three breast-cancer survivors to make the trek up Mt. Timpanogos, talked herself into going to the summit despite her fear. The hike marked the one-year anniversary, nearly to the day, of Barrell's diagnosis.
Barrell, an emergency room nurse at LDS Hospital and the mother of four young children, found that it was the encouragement of friends that helped her get through her surgery and chemotherapy - and helped her get to the top of Timpanogos.
Breast cancer survivor Becky Burns made it to the summit shortly after Barrell. By then the red prayer flags were blowing in the breeze.
Burns discovered a lump in her breast five years ago, had a mammogram, and was told by a radiologist that the lump was nothing to worry about. Burns, a nurse at Cottonwood Hospital, worried anyway, consulted a surgeon and had a biopsy that revealed cancer.
"Get that biopsy," Burns urges other women who discover breast lumps. "I know so many women who have had lumps for years and are afraid to get a biopsy. But early detection is the key."
Burns was joined on the hike by several other nurses from Cottonwood Hospital's surgical center. "You have to have courage and stamina to fight breast cancer," said nurse Donna Burton, whose mother-in-law died of the disease.
Burton noted that she and her colleagues often treat women who have had biopsies. "And it could be any of us," she said, "any minute."