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Peak Experience Karyn Blackmore-Hagy ’85 knows the majesty and menace of life – and of mountains. Three years ago at
the age of 31 she was diagnosed with breast cancer. To celebrate the fact that she is now a cancer survivor expected to live a full, healthy life, and to help ensure a cancer-free life for all grandmothers, mothers, daughters, aunts, nieces, friends, etc., Blackmore-Hagy recently climbed California’s Mt. Whitney, at 14,495 feet the highest peak in the continental U.S.
“I had no prior mountain-climbing experience, none whatsoever. We were all amateurs,” she says of Expedition Inspiration, the team of nine, including Blackmore-Hagy’s husband, Rick (“Not a cancer survivor – just a real trooper!”), who successfully made the climb. “Most of us are young, and all of us with much to be grateful for.”
Their goal was not just raising money, but also making women more aware of the dangers of breast cancer and the benefits of early detection. Blackmore-Hagy first discovered she had breast cancer after the birth of her second child. Once she finished breastfeeding, she asked her doctor for a mammogram, but was told she was too young to have much cause for concern.
“Thank God I didn’t listen or I’d be dead right now,” she says. “In younger women, there’s types of cancer which can be very aggressive and virulent, which mine was.”
Equipped with USC caps, Karyn Blackmore-Hagy and Richard Hagy pose atop 14,495-feet-high Mt. Whitney. |
BLACKMORE-HAGY THEN WENT to USC’s Norris Cancer Hospital, where doctors caught her cancer early and performed a lumpectomy, followed by chemotherapy and radiation.
“They treated me as aggressively as possible,” she says. “Who wants to hear the words ‘you need to have chemotherapy’? But I figured it was an insurance policy for my future. It was horrible at the time, but with the help of a wonderful husband I worked through it.”
Husband Richard Hagy, also an alumnus (BS ’85, MPA ’95), is a senior business officer in the Division of Business Affairs at USC and a PhD student in public administration.
The couple’s determination helped take them to the top of Mt. Whitney, an experience she calls “grueling but exhilarating. What a moment – to step on what felt like the top of the world.”
The climb featured “tribute flags,” which donors purchased for $100 each and were planted by Blackmore-Hagy at the summit. Donations in her name prior to and since the expedition currently total almost $20,200, much of it from Trojan Family members.
“We made it to the top to give hope and support to all women who have suffered and will suffer as we have,” she says. “That is, until a cure is found.”
Donations in Blackmore-Hagy’s name can be sent to Expedition Inspiration, Box 4289, Ketchum, Idaho, 83340, or by calling (208) 726-6456.
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