Dave Bartemes

We Call Her Kili Dave Bartemes

We Call Her Kili New Year's Day of 2012, was the departure day for a group of cancer survivors and caregivers to travel to Tanzania, Africa. While there, the 19 cancer survivors and 21 caregivers would attempt to climb Africa's highest mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro. These men and women were well aware of the challenge before them. Climbing Kilimanjaro is a difficult trek for healthy, young climbers. The anticipated six day climb would be through rain forest, over barren rock, and up some of the steepest and most difficult non-technical climbing in the world. The cancer survivors on this trip were from 33 to 73 years old and many of them bore the scars of surgeries, radiation, and other forms of treatment. This is the story of the eldest of these survivors.