By Bob Davies // Originally Published in the October UPC Times
Nancy at the tree line on Mount Adams
In August 2010, three UPC women climbed Mount Adams—the second highest peak in Washington—to raise funds for Team Survivor Northwest, an organization promoting fitness for women overcoming breast cancer. All of the women on the climb were cancer survivors, and their combined participation raised about $60,000 for Team Survivor.
Nancy Haunty and her husband, Jake, joined UPC just prior to their marriage in 2001. A year later, Nancy was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent successful treatment. In 2007, a local recurrence occurred—but, after six more months of chemo, Nancy was doing well.
Then, last summer, Nancy began experiencing unusual back pain. Tests brought crushing news: she was diagnosed with stage four (advanced) breast cancer; it had spread to her spine, liver, and lungs.
The timing was “especially cruel for us,” recalled Nancy with tears. She and Jake were in the final stages of adopting an infant daughter.
Nancy and Dawn
During subsequent chemo treatments, Nancy walked around her neighborhood and tried to stay fit. “It wasn’t working,” she admitted. “I needed a group to keep me motivated.” Then she heard about Team Survivor Northwest and began “tagging along” on their regular hikes, not sure whether she’d be able to do the Mount Adams climb. But her chemo treatments ended in time and her oncologist gave the go-ahead.
Nancy had never been on a backpacking hike. “I haven’t slept in a tent since I was eight years old,” she said with a laugh.
But the months of training were successful: Nancy reached the summit of Mt. Adams and gained some unexpected benefits. Previously, she felt isolated by her cancer diagnosis. “I gained a whole support network,” she said. “It’s been very therapeutic and healing to be so supported [by this group of women] at a time when I really needed them.”
A special experience on the climb was the prayer flag ceremony, when women unfurled flags they had created, most of them honoring a loved one with cancer or in memory of someone who had died of the disease. Nancy made three prayer flags: one to honor her husband for all his support, another for a friend who has stage four breast cancer, and a flag representing “prayers of blessing” for the little girl Nancy and Jake almost adopted.
Another climber, Dawn Siler, came to UPC in 2005 and became involved in several ministries, including World Markets and Second Wind hikes. Then came her cancer diagnosis in 2008.
“Some of the people from the Monday evening Bible study and other friends from UPC really gathered around me and prayed with me,” Dawn recalls. “I was so grateful for that support.”
Over the past ten years, Dawn has hiked a lot: “That’s where I go to worship God and to celebrate his creation and his redemption.” Still, she found climbing Mount Adams a challenge because of the high altitude. “It was much more painful for me [than I expected] in the final ascent.” To keep motivated, Dawn meditated on two dozen loved ones—including a half-dozen family members—whose lives have been impacted by cancer. “I breathed a prayer [for these people] as I walked and just remembered them in my heart.”
The third UPC climber, Pam Davies, works at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and saw ads for Team Survivor’s weekly fitness classes—free for all women with a cancer history—posted in the elevator. “I had no excuse not to go to exercise class, because it was right there in my building.”
Then Pam heard about their upcoming climb but doubted she could do it. Her radiation treatments three years ago caused significant lung damage. “I was quite breathless,” she recalled. “I would have to stop and rest after one flight [of stairs].”
In spite of her doubts, Pam decided to join the training program laid out by a certified fitness trainer for all the women going on the climb. Her months of hard work paid off. “I never thought I’d be able to participate in this level of activity again.” In her high school and college years, Pam had climbed many major peaks in the Pacific Northwest. After her cancer diagnosis, she thought those days were gone forever.
“To be able to summit the second highest peak in Washington is just amazing,” she said. “It was dramatic, it was moving. The group was really helpful; I couldn’t have done it on my own.”
Dawn Siler said she made the climb, in part, “out of my gratitude for God’s goodness to me. It was a wonderful time of spiritual renewal.”
Nancy Haunty said being out in the mountains was really healing. “I felt God’s presence. It was an anchor to hold onto.”
In Psalm 23, David says the Lord is with us when we “walk through the valley of the shadow of death,” a familiar feeling to all cancer survivors. But these women have left the valley and now are climbing mountains—and finding God there as well.
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