Bayfield woman becomes first person with MS to summit Mt. Everest

By Melissa Ganje, FOX 21 News

JANESVILLE, Wis. -   A treacherous climb to the top of the world.  Lori Schneider of Bayfield recently completed that challenge, becoming the first person living with MS to summit Mount Everest.  "It feels like it's an honor for me to carry that label with me," said Schneider.  Because Schneider says when she was diagnosed with MS 10 years ago, her life changed, but climbing gave her back strength and courage.  "So to go to the top of Everest and take the hopes of others who also have been diagnosed with MS with me was a good feeling.  It was quite an amazing place to be."

Everest was the last leg of her 7 summit's quest to climb the highest peak on each continent.  "It was emotional for me to finally complete this after 16 years," said Schneider.  "It was a long haul and exciting all the way."  She spent nearly 2 months climbing Everest with 14 team members and 5 guides, only 9 made it to the summit.  "It was exciting emotionally to be up there after 11 hours of very slow moving and some dangerous terrain," said Schneider.  She reached the summit at 8:20am Nepalese time on May 23rd.  She was able to take a few photos in the whiteout conditions before they had to make their descent minutes later because of dangerous weather.  "It's extreme beauty, extreme danger, extreme weather," said Schneider.  "All the elements combined together make it a pretty inhospitable place to be but if you can just glimpse if for a moment, it's pretty amazing."

On the day she summited, friends in Bayfield climbed along with her.  "My friends in Bayfield helped me for 9 months before the climb, climbing up Mount Ashwabay," said Schneider.  "It was so wonderful to have their support and to hear that the day I was summiting that they all went back to Ashwabay and did the climb, it made it feel special."  They were with her in spirit, helping her put one foot in front of the other.  "And I truly felt that, I truly felt love and support and that helped me so much in so many ways," said Schneider.  Her father Neal Schneider helped start her 7 summits challenge 16 years ago, and via satellite phone on the summit of Mount Everest, he was with her in the end.  "I called him and I said I made it, I made it!  He was very excited because it all started with dad and this was the final climb and he's certainly been my climbing rock all these years," said Schneider.  Now Schneider wants to be a rock for others.  She hopes to take a group of people diagnosed with MS to Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa to attempt that climb.  "And give others a chance to feel the power that I feel when I climb and give them a little bit of their strength and courage back."  Because she wants others living with MS to never give up on their dreams.  Schneider says, "Believe in yourself and get your body as strong as you can and do the things that you love to do, some days will be harder than others but never give up that hope."

Bayfield will welcome Lori Schneider back home with a parade Tuesday June 9th at 5:30 p.m., followed by a community celebration at the Bayfield Pavilion.  Log onto Schneider's website www.ETAdventure.com to read excerpts from her journal on Everest, they will be posted in a couple weeks.