June 16, 2008 | A charity climb to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro in support of First Responders www.climb4first.org

They're back in the US and thank everyone for there support and prayers.  read more...

California Fire Fighter Climbs Kilimanjaro for Charity - IAFF Article

Hello Everyone!!

Well, I am back in the US. I wanted to thank everyone for there support and prayers. They were greatly appreciated.

We all made it to the summit but it was very difficult. In fact we summated a day early because the altitude was getting to us, if we would have waited another day then we probably would not have made it. Two of us had to have oxygen on the way to the summit and one person had it after we got up there. This was the most difficult adventure I have ever done in my life!! I knew it would be hard but didn’t realize how much. The altitude effected me very early and I was sick most of the time - I will spare you the details because I don’t want to make Mike throw-up. We started in the rain forest and went up from there.
We walked 6 days before we were at the base of the mountain. We walked anywhere from 6 to 8 hours a day - a couple of days we only hiked 4 hours. Even thou this was very difficult I am very glad I did it and am very happy.

Right now I am resting in Michigan with my family, I will be here until July 12th. I still have 2 toes that are numb from the 2 ½ days of hiking down from the summit and I am still tired. I think we will be putting more pictures on the website, if not then I have more if anyone wants to see them. At some point I will have a video done to show anyone interested.

Again, thanks for all of the support. Take care and will see some of you at the next retreat.

Love, Janice