So it seems that I've finally got to put my money where my mouth is and actually start organising my Mont Blanc climb for next year. What had started off as an idle thought had been put down on my media 'biography', and subsequently picked up on by a presenter on a live radio interview as a key talking point. From being a thought that I'd had as a possible 'objective' for next year had now had to take some form of reality, otherwise I'm just talking a lot of hot air! Which is never the case, despite public opinion on this matter.
The issue of targets and objectives is an interesting point, because in my way of dealing with the dreaded C word – cancer that is, not the C word used by James Naughtie on Today this week – I find personally that it helps me to put order back into my life, by establishing aims that I can work towards. The idea of a linear future and a long-term plan (marriage, family, old age, grand-children) is suddenly all taken away. Nothing seems real, guaranteed. There is only one guarantee, which there is for anyone, but for me that seems somewhat nearer than for most people. So, the establishment of a given target seems the best thing that I can do – two fingers to cancer. I will be here, this is my life, you cannot take it away – yet. I will carry on trying to do the things that I love, you cannot take me away from the people that I love – yet.
The phrase “every day a mountain came about” because it's a personal metaphor for what it's like living with cancer, the ups and downs, the bigger picture. Trying to get through every day and remain positive, even when the slightest ache and pain makes me feel like the cancer is getting one up on me. So please read on and let me know what you think, it's not just a blog about one man trying to get to the top of a mountain. It's about about how cancer strips away the flesh, but not the spirit.
For up to date information, photo's and more on my attempted climb of Mont Blanc next summer for charity please visit: everydayamountain.blogspot.com
