The Climb To Conquer Cancer
Shannon Fojtik
TUCSON, Ariz. - Josh Allen, a local Tucsonan, father of two and University of Arizona engineering graduate, died September 26, 2004 from what was later discovered to be stomach cancer. Fourteen years later, his legacy continues on as his family climbs ‘A’ Mountain every year with the American Cancer Society at the Climb To Conquer Cancer to help raise money to find a cure for cancer.
Marisa Allen, younger sister of Josh, climbed ‘A’ Mountain for the first time with her brother in 2004, only months before he died. When Josh was initially diagnosed with cancer in 2003 during a surgery to remove his appendix, his diagnosis was mucinous adenocarcinoma originating in the appendix, but by the time of discovery, his abdomen was completely riddled with the cancer. The future was at the moment uncertain for Josh and his family. Even with his diagnosis, doctors were not quite sure exactly what kind of cancer he had. Marisa remembers the climb as a time for Josh when he felt strong. When Josh participated in the event, he was capable of overcoming the struggles that went along with having cancer and the treatments associated with it. “He felt supported and we felt good about seeing that he was doing better,” Marisa said. “I think it is kind of powerful to feel connected to him through that event.”
During his illness, he underwent several types of chemotherapy, often multiple kinds at one time. According to Marisa, the treatments definitely took their toll on his physical appearance, but he remained positive and hopeful throughout. As his illness progressed, Marisa managed to document the entire journey and used the story of her brother’s struggle with cancer to fuel a movement to raise money for a cure for cancer. The first year of the climb, Marisa kept a blog of everything her brother was experiencing and was able to recruit 90 people to climb for their team within one week. This story, and the memories documented by Marisa had proven to be a powerful tool for inspiring others to join the Climb To Conquer Cancer.
Team Giant was named after Josh’s nickname during his time on the rugby team in college, and due to the fact that he was known for his height. Team Giant was formed and during the day of the climb, everybody climbed to the top of the mountain successfully. Josh met them at the top, after he had been driven up due to his lack of strength. Marisa said: “It really was just a beautiful day. He was able to eat hotdogs with us and he felt amazing. Even though he had felt so sick in the morning, I think just being there and having all these people to support him really helped him.”
As the event that day in March of 2004 came to a close, Josh surprised everybody with his energy and asked for everybody to walk down the mountain with him. “He had gone from being 6’4, 250 pounds, and from December to March, he had dropped down to like 200 pounds,” Marisa said. “He had lost 50 pounds of muscle, so it was really kind of crazy for us to see him as so frail and so fragile, but he still wanted to walk down the mountain.”
To his family’s surprise and joy, Josh successfully walked down the entire mountain on his own, without help, and this is the memory that is instilled in ‘A’ Mountain for everybody on Team Giant to this day. “It was incredible for us to witness that, and so empowering to get to see that,” Marisa said. The next day, Josh woke up to feeling sore from his exercise for the first time since his diagnosis and Marisa recalled how happy he was to be able to work his muscle like that again and to feel sore from exercise and not just from his illness.
Even though this day marked a high for Josh in terms of how healthy he felt, he did not get better after this point. He was in and out of the hospital frequently and at one point had septic shock, according to Marisa. On September 12, 2004, Josh turned 26. On September 26, he died. “Ever since then, we just kind of rallied around [the climb] because that’s a way now we can celebrate him,” Marisa said.
Tracelyn Sutton, the community development manager with the American Cancer Society for the Climb To Conquer Cancer in 2018, said the climb is an event that remains unique due to the fact that cancer survivors are able to participate, even if they aren’t feeling well at the time. “I really think that opens the doors and enables people to take on this challenge,” she said.
Team Giant joins many other teams who want to remember of honor their family member who have had cancer on the Climb To Conquer Cancer. The money raised during the event goes to fund cancer screenings for early detection, drivers to help cancer survivors get to doctor’s appointments, free lodging for cancer patients when they travel for treatment, emotional support programs, cancer education classes and online support. Over the past 15 years, Team Giant alone has raised over $120,000, according to Marisa.
