Whether Literal or Metaphorical, She Wants All People With MS to Have Mountains to Climb
Six of Earth’s tallest peaks have felt the weight of Wendy Booker’s boots. She’s the first person with MS ever to do this. She would be one of the planet’s most accomplished people even if she went home and turned on the TV and never came out again.
That, of course, is not happening. In spring 2009 Wendy sets out for the biggest of them all: Everest. She plans to summit by early June, weather permitting.
The 54-year-old mother of three, who lives in Colorado and Massachusetts, was diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS in 1998 after experiencing poor balance, blurred vision and numbness. After a period of dejection the former interior designer threw herself into running, which had been a casual hobby, and completed nine marathons.
She came to believe that people with MS need to have a passion in life.
“Taking on a physical challenge or goal is always a great way to engage your brain and move forward, but a challenge doesn’t always have to be physical,” she said. “Perhaps it is learning to paint, or a foreign language, or music. It doesn’t matter what it is. But during the time their minds are engaged they get back a piece of what they were before they had MS, and that is where their empowerment will come from.”
Denali is one of the Seven Summits — the tallest mountain on each of the seven continents — so with one down, Wendy decided to go for the other six. In only five years she proceeded to conquer Kilamanjaro (Africa), Elbrus (Europe), Aconcagua (South America), Vinson Massif (Antarctica) and Kosciuszko (Australia).
Between climbs she traveled the United States, sharing her story and being moved by others’ stories — like the kids of Donald McKay Elementary School in East Boston.
“These are inner-city kids from a tough neighborhood. They meet challenges every day yet they remain hopeful and optimistic,” she said. Other inspirations include the primatologist Jane Goodall and the many women Wendy knows who are facing breast cancer: “Theirs is a frightening journey and they travel it with integrity and optimism.”
Wendy has said from the start of her Seven Summits journey that the physical peaks she climbs are metaphors for the ups and downs we all face in life — especially if life includes an unpredictable illness.
“We often have to try a little harder and take a little longer,” she said. “I challenge those with MS to go out and find that special thing, that activity, that passion that will take them away from their MS if only for awhile, and from that they will see that anything is possible, and in their own way they too are climbing Everest.”
Get the latest news on Wendy’s Everest attempt at www.wendybooker.net.