Scotch College

Climbing with Cancer

‘I suspect its something called Non-Hodgkins lymphoma’
‘What’s that?’, ‘Cancer.’

And there it was. I was 22.
The 1 August 2000, is not the day I remember for any particular good reason, however it is certainly the most significant date in my life so far.

Coping with the diagnosis of one of the most common types of blood cancer in Australia was not easy. Fighting it is even harder.

After this I went into treatment, 10 months of chemotherapy, including a bone marrow transplant and a month of radiotherapy.

This saw me into remission. It was over, my life changed forever, hopefully for better.
I moved from Melbourne to Mt Beauty and became a ski instructor at Falls Creek.
I had finished my degree in civil engineering but for the moment was in no mood to pursue a career in it! Last November, a week before I was due to take up a job instructing in Austria, I received a phone call that brought me to my knees, the cancer had come back.

For me the outdoors has always been the place to be. I have been climbing for over six years now and mountaineering for five.
The treatment I have been receiving is mild, and is allowing me to pursue normal outdoor activities. Since my relapse I have been: Scuba Diving, Sky Diving, Rock Climbing, Hiking, Mountaineering, Surfing, this just to name a few. Now I’m into fund raising. In a weeks time I’m to have a Bone Marrow Transplant, for which my sister, Jayne, is to be the donor. It’s about as hard as treatment can get, 20% of patients don’t even make it out of hospital. Research into the procedure is ongoing, the technique continually improving, survival rates increasing. However they need more money.

Mt Aspiring is a 3000m peak in the southern alps in New Zealand. “The Matterhorn of the south” it is a national icon. To raise much needed funds for the research program I thought climbing the mountain would be “fun”. Normal healthy people need a lot of fitness and luck to summit a mountain like this, and no one with cancer has even looked at it! With Melinda Sharpe, my girl friend from Noosa, and wearing my Scotch footy socks, I summited this peak on the 2 February 2002. So far we have raised over $10 000, but we need more. I finished Scotch in 1996 and have received loads of emotional support from old collegians. The climb to beat cancer is ongoing. Getting there alone, impossible. Your help is needed.

Please send donations to:

The Alfred Foundation
PO Box 2021
Prahran VIC 3181

All donations are tax deductible, and your name, or company logo will be displayed on a plaque to commemorate the climb in the Alfred Hospital. (Please indicate on the reverse that the money is in support of the Mt Aspiring Challenge)

David Roberts (96)
zgfairlane@hotmail.com