On top of the world

Corbett climber defies cancer with fundraising ascent

By Shannon Wells

The Gresham Outlook, Aug 4, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Lynn Lippert is training to climb an 18,000-foot mountain in Mexico with a personal goal of raising $25,000 for cancer research.

Jim Clark / Gresham Outlook

As the old saying goes, everybody’s got a mountain to climb.

Lynn Lippert is well acquainted with that sentiment’s literal, as well as metaphorical implications.

Diagnosed with cancer in 1997, Lippert has undergone a series of chemo-treatments and surgeries. Recent reports, however, indicate her tumors are shrinking.

While that personal barrier chose her, Lippert, 67, chose to take on an actual mountain, Mexico’s El Pico de Orizaba, herself. The seasoned mountaineer intends to ascend the 18,850-foot peak this fall. As the Corbett-area resident prepares for her October quest, she hopes to raise $25,000 in donations for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Upwardly mobile

Fresh off a training climb at Mount Adams in Washington, the tall, trim woman with short, salt-and-pepper hair exudes palpable enthusiasm while discussing her upcoming ascent.

“I’ve got to tell ya, it feels really sweet climbing a 12,000-foot mountain at 67,” she says from the living room of her pastorally set home near Gordon Creek. “I felt good and strong while climbing it. I did it as a training climb for another one at (Mount) St. Helens.”

The retired physical therapist also speaks soberly and candidly about her decade-long battle with bone and breast cancer.

“It’s a huge shock when you’re first told you have cancer,” she says. “It really hits you right between the eyes. The first words out of your mouth are ‘What is the prognosis?’ I can’t think of too many easy things about going through cancer. The way you choose to deal with it makes a big difference.”

Given that she celebrated one chemotherapy-free year on the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, Lippert seems to have a better-than-average approach to chronic illness.

“I had less than a year to get in shape after the chemo,” she recalls of the 2002 adventure. “I had to be really smart about training. We summited, then did a 9,000-foot descent before nightfall. I’d never felt my legs so rubbery. I knew I wasn’t as strong, but I was tougher.”

Ebb and flow

Lippert’s goal for this fall’s climb is to help fund pilot projects with the Seattle-based Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. One involves using a scorpion venom-based dye to make cancer cells more visible to surgeons. When a light hits the dye in a tumor, surgeons can more precisely target cancerous cells and leave healthy tissue intact.

Another project focuses on a vaccine to prevent breast cancer recurrences. A successful combination of the two concepts could prove groundbreaking.

“That’s huge, that’s exciting,” she says. “It might be that magic bullet.”

To fund the climb in Mexico, Lippert must raise at least $10,000 for breast cancer research at “the Hutch,” as she calls the Fred Hutchinson center. Through a section of the center’s Web site, Lippert is among several mountain climbers seeking donations for research.

Those interested in supporting Lippert and research at “the Hutch” are encouraged to do so through the site or by mailing her a check.

Lippert’s odyssey with cancer – encompassing five recurrences – is the virtual definition of a roller-coaster ride of health and emotions. First diagnosed in 1997, her treatment was successful until a second primary diagnosis in 2000, followed by a combination of chemotherapy and surgery.

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