3 Amputee Veterans Climb Kilimanjaro with a Message

posted on Aug 12 by Amelia in the Advocacy, Disability News, Fun, Veterans category

Three American soldiers with one one human leg and 5 prosthetics between them made of titanium and carbon fiber hiked to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. The climb took them six days and totaled 19,340 feet – Africa’s highest point.

The three soldiers – veterans of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Vietnam – had a very solid purpose for achieving such a feat.

“The message we’re trying to send back to the USA is no matter what disability you have you can be active,” said Kirk Bauer, the executive director of Disabled Sports USA and a 62-year-old Vietnam veteran who lost his leg in 1969.

“If three amputees from three different wars and two different generations with literally one good leg can climb Kilimanjaro, our other disabled friends can get out and go hiking or go biking or swim a mile, can get out and lead a healthy life,” he said.

The climb was far from easy. Dan Nevins, a 37-year old from Jacksonville, Florida, who lost his legs in Iraq, developed a pressure boil on one of his leg stumps followed by coughing, congestion, and a high fever. He made it to the top and descended to 15,000 ft where he was taken down to the bottom on a wheelchair stretcher.

26 year-old Neil Duncan from Denver, Colorado, who lost both legs to a roadside bomb in Afghanistan in 2005 was the third veteran to reach the summit. He had attempted the same feat last year, but poor planning and too quick of an ascent doomed the trip. This year they took a different route spending 6 days instead of 4, and they made it.

Day 5 was a challenge due to such high altitudes. Going from 15,500 feet to 19,000 feet, the group struggled to breathe. The air is very thin up there, and the loose rocks were a big obstacle. Duncan noted that the legs would slip so often that it seemed as though he was climbing the mountain twice.

Coming down the mountain was no easy task either, and many climbers say that it’s actually harder on the body. Duncan lost his footing and somersaulted once. Bauer’s artificial leg also fell off.

“I have only one real knee, and it takes an incredible amount of stress from falling,” Duncan said. “It’s more of a controlled fall down the mountain. It’s not a graceful process I assure you.”

The Kilimanjaro trip was sponsored by Disabled Sports USA and other donors. The group’s mission is to provide opportunities for individuals with disabilities to develop independence, fitness and confidence through sports and recreational programs.

“The feeling was total exhaustion and total exhilaration,” Bauer said of his 45 minutes on the summit. “It was absolutely spectacular.”