Soon after he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma — a cancer that forms in plasma cells in the blood — in 2009, Juneau resident Terry White was talking to his doctor.
His doctor advised White to take disability leave from work and take it easy. White, who worked at Alaska Airlines and operates a charter boat, wasn’t a fan of the idea. He discussed it with the doctor, who then granted him permission and gave him a release saying it was OK for him to lift 25 pounds.
“We’ll work from there,” White said at the time.
White worked way up from there. Nearly 20,000 feet up.
Almost exactly eight years after his cancer diagnosis, White stood at the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania with other cancer survivors.
The climb, which took place this February, is part of a program called Moving Mountains for Multiple Myeloma (MM4MM), which raises money for multiple myeloma research. The 16-member group this year raised more than $250,000, most of which goes to research. The members were all either supporters of the program, patients or doctors.
White’s cancer has been in remission since 2010, but he still takes medication routinely because there’s no cure for multiple myeloma.
At Cancer Connection’s National Cancer Survivor Day awards ceremony Thursday night, White was named as the Survivor of the Year. He proudly wore his orange Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation shirt as he accepted the award on Thursday at the Juneau Arts and Cultural Center, and Cancer Connection Board Member Tish Satre said White was an easy choice for this year’s award.
“We think Terry is an amazing person for Survivor of the Year,” Satre said. “For his courageous advocacy, he’s supportive of his fellow Juneau cancer survivors, his determination and commitment to advanced national scientific research and a push for a cure.”
Prior to February’s climb, White had lived an active lifestyle but had never climbed any substantial mountain. His father-in-law is an avid hiker in the mountains of Southeast Alaska, so White has accompanied him many times for what he calls his “marital obligation.” Kilimanjaro — the world’s tallest mountain that isn’t part of a mountain range — is an entirely different beast.
[Juneau man with multiple myeloma to climb Mount Kilimanjaro to raise cancer awareness]
Standing 19,341 feet, Kilimanjaro is a daunting task. This year’s MM4MM climb was chronicled by Uncage the Soul Productions for a brief documentary, and in the 10-minute video, members of the climb compare it to cancer.
“Kilimanjaro, she’s got a mind of her own, and she’s throwing everything at us,” Team Manager Kelley Ward said in the documentary. “There’s definitely ebbs and flows with this. There’s moments where you feel like you’ve got it and there’s moments when you need everyone around you to pick you up and move you forward and that’s what this is about. We’re overcoming it together.”
The climb began at the group’s base camp, which White said was around 15,000 feet. They started on their way at 11 p.m., reached the summit at about 9 a.m. and came back down to a different camp at 6:30 p.m. The beginning of the trek was grueling, White said, with howling winds making progress slow.
White, never lost for words, tried to encourage those around him.
“Just keep your back to the wind,” White remembers saying at one point. “Sunrise is gonna be another hour, and it’s gonna make all the difference in the world.”
As shown in the documentary, sunrise did indeed signal a renewed hope for the group. White eventually ended up making it to Uhuru Peak (the highest point on the mountain), but not everybody in the group did. The group grew very close very quickly on the trek, and White said he’s already looking forward to seeing them again.
“What a bonding experience,” White said. “These people, they become part of your life forever. It’s a brotherhood. They’re already talking about reunions.”
At Thursday’s ceremony at the JACC, Satre introduced White, crediting him for always being straightforward and open during support group meetings. White took the stage and spoke for nearly 25 minutes, promising multiple times that he wasn’t going to take too much longer.
He spoke frankly about his diagnosis, his doubts about living to see his son graduate from high school, his relationship with doctors and more. He held the glass award given for Survivor of the Year, but said at the outset of his speech that it, like the climb to the top of Kilimanjaro, was a shared honor.
“If you survived cancer for a year,” White said as he took the stage, “you’re the Survivor of the Year.”
• Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at alex.mccarthy@juneauempire.com.
Juneau man Terry White (right) poses with fellow climber Gary Rudman as they trek up Mt. Kilimanjaro. The group climbed the mountain this February, and is already talking about a reunion. (Photo courtesy of John Waller, Uncage the Soul Productions)
