Talk about resiliency! I woke up for today’s hike at 7am and
Anthony was not in his bed. I usually have to get him up and encourage him to
come out in the house. As I my last blog mentioned, last week he didn’t even
want to walk out into the kitchen. This morning I panicked a little as I looked
around the house checking to see if he was stuck in a bathroom or something.
There he was sitting on the couch in the den adjacent to the kitchen with the
hugest smile ever on his face. “Mom, I’ve been up forever waiting for you guys!”
It was a great sign that today’s hike was going to be much better.
And it was! We had a couple more folks come out that were
really awesome! David Baumgartner, another firefighter from Phoenix joined us.
I couldn’t believe he took time away from his 5 kids to come help us! And we
got the privilege of meeting Todd Pendleton, a Scottsdale Firefighter who
recently summited Everest. He has joined the team.
Ben was back from his injury and did great. It was also nice
to have Vickie along. She is the one who came over to my house first to help
encourage me to start putting this adventure together. I will forever be grateful for
her support. Vickie, Linda and Carol will be in charge of base camp and general
support for the team.
This time I decided to stay in front as much as I can. That
helped me to not constantly feel like I was coming from behind. And this time
Oliver made the same decision and stayed with me the whole time. Dee Dee helped
me take care of Anthony and we took turns stretching him, moving him and encouraging
water and food at each rest stop. Near the top when it got hard Dee Dee went
ahead so if I got behind she would be there when Anthony got to the next point.
I did much better this time and just as I was climbing up the hardest part, I
looked up and way ahead near the top was Oliver RUNNING up the final switchback
just behind Tina and Tim. I was so proud. I can’t believe how much he has
stepped up for his family.
Anthony did much better this time too, he was laughing and
being silly at the top as we all indulged in our frozen fruit. I think we are
going to stretch him out each time the carriers switch off which will be every
20 minutes on the descent.
I was so proud of how much better we did and then Tina and
Tim (our canyon coaches) gently reminded me that we only climbed 1000 feet
today. The canyon will be 5 times that! As much as we complain when Tim goes
too fast, I realize now what an amazing set of coaches we have in those two and
we need to let them work us into shape. As Tina says “The canyon is no joke. I
have seen the most fit people cry, vomit, fall to their knees and be shamed by
this canyon.” I know now they are “not trying to scare us, just prepare us”. She
did also give some great words of encouragement though: “Never doubt yourself, never let it get to
your brain that you are suffering. Always, always, always stay positive not
just for yourselves but for Anthony.”
For the family, we will struggle with this climb. I know
that. But I know we can do it because we have had a lot of practice doing what
others deemed to be impossible. This is just one more mountain we will climb to
prepare us and make us stronger for the next climb in the journey of DMD………and I do understand.... there
will definitely be more mountains to climb.
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