By Teresa Herriman, The Courier-Herald
About 38 East Pierce Fire & Rescue firefighters and firfighter-paramedics will don full gear and breathing apparatus to race up 69 floors of the Bank of America Tower in downtown Seattle March 7 to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
For most of the firefighters and paramedics, it's an opportunity to train for endurance or to compete against themselves and others. For East Pierce firefighter-paramedic Mike Westland the race is more meaningful. In August 2001, the 30-year-old Westland learned he had leukemia.
At the West Tapps station, firefighter-paramedic Larry Nye and Lt. Eric McLeroy join Westland in training sessions. To help keep from overheating, they open the station's bay doors, surprising local residents who gawk at fully-outfitted firefighters on a StairMaster.
Nye, who is participating in the competition for the fourth time, said completing the 1,311-step climb up Seattle's tallest skyscraper, is a mental battle.
"It's grueling," he said. "There's a couple of minutes of pure misery. Between the 50th and 65th floors, you hit that wall." The gear, which includes boots, pants, coat, helmet, gloves and oxygen bottle, adds an extra 45 pounds or more.
"The reason I got into it is to keep me in shape," Nye said. The naturally competitive Nye also tries to better his score each year. This year he plans to join a select group to run the course twice.
"It's mind over matter," McLeroy said he was told. This will be his first time on the course.
"It is so hot," Westland, who participated two years ago, adds. "That's what I remember most."
The annual event, sponsored by Scott Health & Safety and a number of local businesses, drew 800 participants last year, some from as far away as New Zealand. The event is expecting at least that many firefighters this year. Most competitors finish the course in 20 to 30 minutes, although the times range from 11 minutes to more than an hour and a half. A second event for civilians is scheduled for March 21.
The 13-year-old event simulates the conditions firefighters must sometimes work. That fact was brought home for many during the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001.
All proceeds from the fund raiser benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the world’s largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research, education and patient services. The society’s mission is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, and to improve the quality of life of patients and their families. Since its founding in 1949, the society has provided more than $358 million for research specifically targeting blood cancers.
Recently, the society helped provide research funds and support for the revolutionary oral anti-cancer drug Gleevec® and its pioneer, Brian Druker, M.D., of Oregon Health and Science University. Now Gleevec, which induces remission in 90 percent of patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), is helping tens of thousands of people worldwide, including Westland, who has been taking the drug for the last couple years.
Westland may still need a bone marrow transplant. After waiting for more than a year to find a match, he recently received word of two matches in Europe.
According to the society's Web site, leukemia is a cancer that originates in a cell in the marrow and blood. An estimated 30,600 new cases of leukemia were confirmed in the United States in 2003.
The cause of the disease that results in the accumulation of immature, functionless cells in the marrow and blood, is not known. The marrow often can no longer produce enough normal red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Anemia, a deficiency of red cells, develops in virtually all leukemia patients, and is something that plagues Westland, making his climb even more remarkable.
Westland, co-honor patient for the event, has been a paramedic for eight years and celebrated his third year as a firefighter at East Pierce last September. He lives in Bonney Lake with his wife, Julie, and their dogs, Elvira and C.C.
For information about the 13th Annual Firefighter StairClimb visit the Web site at www.tlls.org/wa/firefighter or call Kris Howard at 206-628-0777.
To make a pledge, contact the East Pierce Fire & Rescue office at 253-863-1800 or stop by the station at 18421 Sumner-Buckley Hwy. Pledges may be tax deductible.
