This weekend, Eric Morrow of Bowie, Maryland, will be joining the CEO of Zero Prostate Cancer and others to begin a fundraising trek up Mount Kilimanjaro.
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Bowie man tackled a mountain called cancer. Now he’s going after Kilimanjaro
In 2021, when he was 49 years old, Eric Morrow of Bowie was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Now, having climbed that mountain called cancer, this weekend he and about 20 others, including many survivors, will be joining the CEO of the Alexandria, Virginia-based Zero Prostate Cancer nonprofit to begin a fundraising trek up Mount Kilimanjaro.
About 10% of prostate cancer cases are considered early onset, and Morrow fell into that group. He had no symptoms and he made it sound like it was found almost accidentally.
“It was a totally unrelated routine exam that kind of put the doctors on to trying to investigate what was going on with me,” Morrow said. “And, when I was diagnosed, they discovered that the cancer had invaded my pelvic lymph nodes already, and that it was very aggressive. So, it was kind of spreading quickly.”
In hindsight, Morrow checks a lot of boxes that made him a candidate for early-onset prostate cancer: He has African lineage and a family history, and he’s also former military. At the time of his diagnosis, he admits he was worried his days were numbered.
But after surgery and radiation, and two years of hormone therapy, he counts himself as a prostate cancer survivor. However, he’s also been told he simply won the battle and that the war will return to his body at some point.
A leading nonprofit that helps
Morrow credits the nonprofit Zero Prostate Cancer for helping him — and others — get through it.
“Zero Prostate Cancer is probably the leading nonprofit here in the U.S. that’s focused on the patient and survivor experience with prostate cancer,” he said. “They have a network of support groups that they run to help connect new patients with men who’ve been living with prostate cancer, in some cases, for decades, to provide them peer-to-peer counseling services.”
Since his recovery, he’s gone all in to help that group continue the work.
He describes it as his mission. And, as part of that, Morrow is joining in the organization’s inaugural fundraising trek up Mount Kilimanjaro.
It’s the tallest peak in Africa at more than 19,000 feet above sea level. The trek at the bottom starts with a warm, almost jungle-like climate. However, at the very top, it can be well below freezing.
“I’m nervous, but it’s a excited kind of nervous,” Morrow said. “I think I’ve done everything in my power — short of taking a month and flying to Colorado to train — that I can to prepare for this.”
Training to take on a challenge
That preparation started with building up his cardio endurance at the start of the year. In recent months he’s spent a lot of time hiking around nearby mountains that offer at least some elevation, like in the Harpers Ferry area. But he knows there’s nothing that will really replicate what he’s about to get into.
“The altitude is definitely going to be a challenge. And I’m going to have to have to draw on a lot of kind of previous experiences that have given me some mental toughness,” he said.
“And, you know, we’re taking a slow approach, also. It’s going to take us a total of six days to reach our high camp at about 16,000 feet,” Morrow said. The hope is that their bodies will gradually acclimate to the altitude that way.
“Summit day is going to be a huge challenge. We’re getting up at about midnight, layering up. The guides have told us to expect temperatures down to potentially negative 20 degrees, and it’s about a three-mile hike from our high camp up to the summit,” he said.
“But because of the thin air and the steepness of the grade, it’s going to take us about seven hours to do that. So we’ll get to the summit right after sunrise, spend about 20 minutes celebrating and taking pictures, and then we have a seven-mile trek back down to a lower camp where we can rest for the evening.”
If all goes well, that will happen on Monday, Sept. 29.
“I’ve wanted to do Kilimanjaro for a number of years. I thought it would be something really exciting to do,” Morrow said. “But my reason for going on this specific adventure is to show men everywhere that although, … a prostate cancer diagnosis is going to be life changing — and there’s no getting around that — it doesn’t have to be life limiting.”
“You can still do huge things,” he promised.
Click here to find out more about the Zero Prostate Cancer Zero Peaks Challenge, or to donate to the cause.
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