Dear Family and Friends,

I hope you are all having excellent summers. I am extremely excited about mine!  On August 26, 2007, my dad and I are leaving for a 2-week adventure in Tanzania to climb Mount Kilimanjaro!

This is the summer of my 13th birthday, a significant milestone in our family. To celebrate becoming a teenager, my father has offered to take us anywhere in the world on a “coming of age adventure”.  I have been researching many places in the world that I could go. Yes, I could go somewhere to relax and think about nothing but lying on a beach, but it would be much more memorable to do something life changing and exciting.

I have chosen, for my coming of age adventure, to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. I was inspired by a Nova series on PBS entitled “Volcano in the Clouds”. I also watched a movie that truly inspired me, “Emmanuel's Gift”. If you get a chance, please watch it! This movie gave me the idea to make this not just an adventure but also a way to support the disabled community of Tanzania. The movie made me realize how fortunate I am to have such a great life.  Many people with limb differences or other challenges aren’t so fortunate. Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah contacted the Challenged Athletes Foundation and asked for a bike. He then trained and rode his bike across Ghana.  This ride resulted in many wonderful changes for the disabled people of his country.  This is where I learned about the Free Wheelchair Mission.

My parents have contacted the Free Wheelchair Mission in Irvine, CA, which has set up a “Calabria Kilimanjaro Climb” fund.  I am hoping my friends, family, and well-wishers will consider sponsoring me on my summit attempt.  Would you be willing to donate one penny for every foot I ascend?  Mount Kilimanjaro, the tallest freestanding mountain in the world, is 19,340 feet tall. We will be using the Rongai approach that starts at 6,400 feet.  If we are successful we will travel 40 miles over seven days and ascend a total of 12,940 feet. Your donation of $130 will purchase three wheelchairs but any amount will help. If I reach my fund raising goal of $25,000, then I will be motivated by the fact that for every 25 feet I climb there will be one less Tanzanian in need of a wheelchair. That thought will keep me going even as we approach the summit where wind chill temperatures are forty below zero.

For those of you who know my dad, you can rest assured there will be plenty of photos to document every step of our journey. He will post them online as soon as we get back (link will be posted here).

Thank you for supporting me on my adventure. I also want to thank the Walk Easy Company, which is sponsoring me with a new pair of really nice crutches.

Nico