15 year old, Jayson Funnell summits Aconcagua

Jayson Funnell, a Grade 10 student at King Edward Vii High school, summited Aconcagua the 2nd highest mountain in the world on January 18, 2012. He did this, his 2nd summit the other being Kilimanjaro last year, with his Dad Raymond who is a cancer survivor. Raymond didn’t make the summit but Jayson went on and managed to hold up his school flag and The Sunflower Foundation flag for both of them. He intends climbing all 7 summits.

Aconcagua is the 2nd highest mountain in the world after Everest. It is the highest in South America. Jayson and Ray climbed with Sibusiso Vilane as their guide (Sibusiso is the first black African to summit Everest). The team left on the January 4, 2012 summiting on Wednesday January 18, 2012.

Jayson has now got two summits under his belt.

Raymond’s story
Raymond is happily married to Lynne with three children, Kimberly (21), Sarah (17) and Jayson (14). He was first diagnosed with AML leukemia in August 2006 after noticing that a bruise on my arm wouldn't heal.

His wife Lynne eventually convinced him to see a GP. The blood test and a bone marrow aspirate quickly confirmed that Raymond had Leukemia.

The doctor informed him that there were many treatments and that there was a survival rate of 20%. Raymond remained upbeat and was determined to join all the other Survivors. At that stage he had no idea just how hard or how long the treatment was going to last and that it would totally change his outlook on life (for the better).

“The next day (Friday) I was checked into an isolation ward at the Donald Gordon Medical Centre which would become my "second home" for a long time. On the Monday morning I was taken into an operating theatre and had a port inserted so that it would be easier to receive the chemo which is very aggressive and can be destructive to the veins”, said Raymond.

His platelet count was so low that they needed to give him a blood transfusion before starting the operation. The induction treatment was a continuous 7 day chemo followed by 3 weeks of recovery in isolation ward. This was the first time that Raymond had an operation or had been in hospital.

Fortunately he responded well to the treatment and was back in remission (abnormal blast cells less than 5%). This induction treatment was then repeated. Due to the prognosis it was felt that the best solution was to look for a bone marrow donor.

“Fortunately my only sibling Gary turned out to be a perfect match so we started making plans for a stem cell transplant in the beginning of 2007. I had decided that I wanted to receive the stem cells fresh to avoid the process of freezing the stem cells.

“Prof Ruff my oncologist planned it perfectly and I was able to receive the lifesaving stem cells direct from my brother. Lynne had to transport the little bag from the donation centre to my hospital so she literally had my life in her hands”, said Raymond.

By the middle of the year he had recovered to the point that he did a hike with Jayson from the town of Grayton to Mc Gregor in the July snow.

“I was convinced that I was cured but then in March 2008 a routine blood test showed that I had relapsed. This was a terrible shock to me and the family. The oncologist was also a bit stunned that I relapsed after the stem cell transplant which is considered a cure. The first thing that the oncologist tried was a white cell infusion of the killer T-cells direct from my brother to me. The idea is that the killer T-cells would attack the Leukemia cells.

“Normally this results in a severe reaction but there was not even the slightest reaction; again a most unusual result unless the siblings are identical twins, which clearly we were not. It was the Thursday morning when I received the news that it had not worked and was the start of the long Easter weekend”, added Raymond.

The only remaining option was high dose chemo which is about 20 times the concentration of the induction treatment and this would start on Tuesday. Raymond knew the risks were high and that this time it would be a real fight for survival. He quickly decided to check out of the hospital and fly to Egypt with the family to visit the Pyramids which had been his lifelong dream.

It was a risky adventure but he needed something to take his mind off the task ahead and just enjoy the moment with his family, especially if something went wrong with the treatment. It turned out to be an amazing adventure and seemed to last a lifetime.

“The rest of 2008 was spent between chemo sessions, blood transfusions and isolation wards. The treatment was very severe and left my body weak. I had lost my body muscle from being bed-ridden for about 8 months. Also my veins had started to harden from the chemo and therefore the daily blood tests were more and more painful. In all I had about 50 blood transfusions and therefore I am most thankful for all the donors that kept me alive during this period. Sometimes I couldn't eat for several weeks and lost about 28 kg weight. Again it took a long time for my taste buds to return but by the end of 2009 I was getting back to normal. I started playing tennis and exercising but I would get out of breath very easily.

“By the middle of 2010, around the exciting time of the Soccer World Cup, I had the idea to climb Mt Kilimanjaro in September that year. I started going to the gym daily and was assisted by a personnel trainer at Planet Fitness. I managed to strengthen the core muscles and lost 12 kg of excess weight. It was a spiritual experience climbing the highest mountain in Africa and was an emotional experience reaching the summit with my other three climbing companions and I don't think there were many dry eyes at the top”, said Raymond.

This experience opened a new world and took away the feeling of limitations. Now he felt that he could do anything so decided to embark on climbing the 7 summits! It had to be a challenged that sounded impossible but now it is looking very real as my fitness has improved in leaps and bounds.

In November last year he took up cycling for endurance training and was soon riding 100 km races every two weeks. The highlight was the Argus tour in Cape Town In March 2011 with the wonderful weather and about 30,000 other cyclists.

Raymond signed up to climb some of the 7 summits climbs with Sean Disney as the guide (he has completed the 7 summits twice!). I was due to climb Mt Elbrus in Russia in July 2011 but this has been delayed until next year since the Russian border was closed a few weeks ago. Instead he used the opportunity to climb Mt Kilimanjaro with his son Jayson which was great bonding experience. At the summit they be 2-3 km above the clouds and could see the curvature of the earth. It was a breath taking experience!

In January 2012 Raymond and Jayson headed for South America to climb Aconcagua, which is the highest peak outside of the Himalayas reaching the summit at nearly 7000 m. Although Raymond didn’t make the summit it was a nice gift for his 47th birthday on the January 29.

“So I'm sure there will be many more tales to tell on these adventures. I hope it will be inspiring for other cancer survivors. The message is never to lose your dream”, concludes Raymond.

There are 7 summits
Everest 8848m Nepal/Tibet
Aconcagua 6962m Argentina, South America
Denali (Mount McKinley) 6195m Alaska, North America
Kilimanjaro 5963m Tanzania, Africa
Elbrus 5633m Russia, Europe
Vinson Massif 4897m Ellsworth Range, Antarctica
Carstensz Pyramid 4884m Indonesia's (t/m) is Oceania's highest mountain.
Mount Kosciuszk 2228m Australia

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Carlos (guide), Juam (guide), Sibo, Rod, Johan, Henk, Mike, Jayson at summit.