Dr. Kathryn Beckman is going to climb to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro with her brother to raise funds for children in Guatemala. (Jennifer M. Howell/News-Sentinel)

Climbing Kilimanjaro

Lodi optometrist raising funds by reaching African summit

Doctor Kathryn Beckman has been training for what could possibly be the biggest trek of her life. With a loaded backpack weighing 35 pounds, Beckman spends two to four hours a day climbing and descending the grassy hill next to Lodi's Grapebowl.

At the end of July, Beckman will be climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania on the African continent. And she's not just doing it "because it's there."

Not long ago, Beckman was reading through a trade magazine for the optometry field. She came across an ad for Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity. Instead of the typical walk-a-thons that are held to raise money for charitable causes, VOSH was doing something similar. But this was more along the lines of an "extreme climb-a-thon."

Beckman enlisted her brother, Karl Kesterke, a principal at an elementary school in Fresno. Kesterke has a climbing background, and he has even tackled Mount Lassen, in the Shasta Cascade range in Northern California.

Beckman, who has a background in technical climbing and backpacking, has been soliciting donations from friends, family, clients and anyone willing to help. The proceeds will benefit 3,400 Guatemalan children, many of whom are born with congenital cataracts, making them virtually blind. Each child will go through a surgery that will restore their sight. Each surgery costs $200. Beckman said people have donated per surgery, and some have pledged a dollar amount for each foot she climbs.

Kilimanjaro's highest peak is 19,340 feet high.

"Making the summit, that's very important to me," said Beckman.

Dr. Kathryn Beckman poses with three Kuna Indian children on a recent trip to the island near Panama. Beckman nearly died from a sea snake bite while on the humanitarian journey. (Courtesy photo)

The challenges that come with life's adventures are nothing new to the diminutive doctor with the larger-than-life heart.

Just recently, Beckman traveled with a colleague from Texas to Panama. They then traveled by plane to the island of Achutupu, 45 minutes outside of Panama. The duo took 10,000 pairs of donated glasses to a village populated by 1,500 Kuna Indians.

When the natives weren't able to come to Beckman, she says they went to them, hut by hut. In the end, everyone who needed them was fitted with glasses.

Two days before a plane was to arrive and take the doctors back to Panama, Beckman was bitten by a sea snake on her big toe. The venom from the sea snake is the deadliest known to man. One drop can kill three people, and eight drops can be delivered in one bite.

Beckman's sight began to double, red streaks ran up her legs and blisters formed on her skin. At only five-feet-tall and 100 pounds in weight, it seemed Beckman's fate should have been sealed. Her colleague administered a mix of epinephrine, steroids and Benadryl, hardly the treatment one would need to survive such an attack. But she did.

"It was truly a gift from God that I survived," Beckman said. The experience hasn't deterred her from wanting to go back to treat other conditions that the Kuna Indians suffer from.

Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak on the African continent. (Courtesy photo)

Facts about Mount Kilimanjaro

Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa at 19,340 feet.

The mountain is made up of three peaks, Shira, Kibo and Mawenzi. Kibo is considered the youngest of the three, and is the central, highest peak.

Kilimanjaro is in the northeast corner of the country of Tanzania, near the border of Kenya.

Legends speak of demons and evil spirits that live on the mountain, guarding immense treasures.

The top of Kibo is a crater, 1.5 miles in diameter.

The summit was first reached in 1889 by Yohanas Kinyala Lauo, Hans Meyer and Ludwig Purtscheller.

Kilimanjaro is one of the Seven Summits, the highest mountains of each of the seven continents.

Before China Mobile provided mobile phone service at the top of Mount Everest, Kilimanjaro was the highest point on Earth with mobile service, from Vodacom.

The origin of the mountain's name is unclear, but it is thought to mean either Mountain of Light, Mountain of Greatness or Mountain of Caravans.

Sources: www.tanzaniaparks.com, www.ewpnet.com and www.tanzaniaodyssey.com

As Beckman was thinking about her forthcoming trip to the tallest free-standing mountain in the world, she began to feel a little guilty that the funds raised were going to help Guatemalan children.

"I felt bad about not doing anything for the locals," Beckman said. She immediately started researching the area around Kilimanjaro and discovered an orphanage near the base of the mountain. She fired off an e-mail to the woman who runs the school. A response was almost instantaneous. They needed medical and school supplies.

The doctor and principal would be more than happy to accommodate and will even spend a day getting to know the children before starting their ascent.

At first, the adventurous siblings were going to take a somewhat easy route to the summit, but then decided on the path with more spectacular views. They will pass through five different ecosystems, from lush tropical forest to glaciers. It will take them seven days to reach the top.

They will spend only 15 minutes relishing their victory before descending. The air at the summit is much too thin to breathe for an extended period of time. It will take only nine hours to come back down.

With an intrepid spirit and the support of her husband and two daughters, Beckman has no fears about the trip. What about those man-eating spirits the locals of Kilimanjaro say reside on the looming mountain? Does she fear those?

"No. My God can do anything. He saved me from a sea snake. I don't live with reckless abandon, but I also don't have any fears," Beckman said.

Contact Business Editor Marc Lutz at marcl@lodinews.com.