Midge Cross was in the midst of planning a trek to the world's most formidable mountains when she found herself facing a challenge more daunting and dangerous than the Himalayas: breast cancer.
"I told my doctor, I don't have time for this," Cross says. "I'm going to Nepal."
She didn't go climbing, however. Instead, she underwent a lumpectomy and radiation therapy. She became a mentor for the Navigator Program, a one-on-one support system for newly diagnosed women. Now, five years later, she officially has beaten her breast cancer. Serendipitously, she is celebrating the occasion of her landmark "all-clear" date by finally heading to the Himalayas, this time in an attempt to climb Everest.
"The timing is quite incredible," says Cross, whose three sisters all have had breast cancer. "My younger sister just had a bilateral mastectomy and chemotherapy. This is her Everest."
In addition to the cancer, Cross was diagnosed 18 months ago with diabetes.
The senior member of this Everest expedition, Cross tends to think of herself as "the token over-50, cancer survivor, diabetic grandmother." Her teammates regard her quite differently, however.
When Alison Levine and Lynn Prebble were in the process of reviewing resumes and interviewing potential expedition members, both knew right away that Cross was a keeper. In fact, Levine spoke for the group when she emailed Prebble, enthusing: "Midge for president!"
Having spent her girlhood roaming the White Mountains of New Hampshire, Cross was a 36-year-old single parent when she started climbing in earnest. She met Scott, her husband-to-be, when she attended the Colorado Mountain Club Mountaineering School where he was teaching. Scott bullied her for days, Cross says, to apply for this Everest expedition.
