While much of the Coast is snug in bed Friday night, Tom Ward and his friends will be climbing Mount Everest. Well, the Everest of the Granthams Landing area.
Starting at 8 p.m. Nov. 29, Tom Ward and three friends will climb the height gain of Everest –– 8,848 metres –– doing laps up Soames Hill to raise money for BC Children’s Hospital.
This is no “because it’s there,” feat, the donation is personal for Ward. His son Otis had surgery for a unilateral cataract in his left eye shortly after he was born. “Handing our 8-week-old baby to the anesthesiologist was one of the hardest moments of our lives, but the team at BC Children’s Hospital were there to support us,” wrote Ward.
The new parents had noticed one of Otis’ pupils was a little cloudy when he was about six-weeks old. An optometrist in Wilson Creek took a look and said they needed to get to the hospital immediately. “It was a really scary, scary time,” said Ward.
After testing, they discovered the unilateral cataract, which meant light and data weren’t getting into the eye. But cataract surgery for babies isn’t the routine surgery it is for adults.
“They had to remove the lens, and because his eye is developing, they can't put a new lens in,” explained Ward. There are also more complications with pressure and glaucoma and such for babies. There was a point where they were travelling to and from the hospital every few days to check eye pressure and make sure things were OK.
“They were incredible at Children's Hospital, and they've just been so supportive and we're so indebted to them.”
Now two years old, Otis wears a contact lens that’s taken in and out daily and wears glasses, as well as an eye patch. “He's been incredible, he’s just rolled with it,” said Ward. “It's normal for him.”
"[BC Children's] work is truly life-changing, not only for Otis, but for countless families across the province," Ward wrote on the fundraising page.
From trail running to ultra
Ward got into ultra running about 18 months ago through the Sunshine Coast trail running crew, “a really awesome group that's super welcoming," he said. While the group isn't focused on ultras, a few members are, and through them Ward got into the sport. Ward has done a couple of 50-km runs and organized a DIY ferry-to-ferry run over the summer –– Earls Cove to Langdale.
“But this will be, this will definitely be my longest [run],” he said.
A 20-hour endeavour
The group estimates it will take them 20 hours to mount "Everest," a particularly gruelling endeavour because they’re doing the south-side stairs on the Soames Beach side of the hill, which is about a 100-metre elevation gain.
“I'm hoping a few people will come out and say hi and maybe do a lap,” said Ward.
It’s a choose-your-own adventure of mountain climbs for those who wish to join in: 12 laps equals Mount Elphinstone (1,232 metres), Whistler is 22 laps (2,181 metres) and Kilimanjaro is 59 laps (5,895 metres). Everest is a whopping 89 laps. “It's really open. But I wanted to do it on somewhere like Soames that is part of the community and it's accessible to so many people.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, the campaign had raised $3,775 of a $5,000 goal. Find the fundraiser on the BC Children's Hospital Foundation's website.
