“For other people with MS, their mountain might be going from the sofa to the mailbox without a walker. But they need to find something that’s a challenge, that they can be passionate about.”
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–Motivational speaker and mountain climber Wendy Booker recently talked to Q about her June trek to the top of Alaska’s Mt. McKinley. At 20,320 feet, it’s the tallest mountain in North America.
Booker, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998, was part of a 10-person team that made the climb.
“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” said Booker, 50, who lives in the Boston area. When she reached the top, “I did the Rocky pose, then said, `Bring on the new MS people for me to talk to!'”
Thanks to drugs that came out in the early ’90s, Booker said, people with MS can lead vital lives. (She injected herself every day on her climb.) It’s also important, she stressed, to eat healthfully and exercise to whatever degree is possible.
The unpredictable disease can be frightening, she acknowledged. “But I can’t wring my hands and wait for bad things to happen. The first year, you wake up every morning and do an inventory of your body. That’s something you have to work through. Then you need to take control.”
To read more about Booker’s climb, go to www.msclimb.com.
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