| Transplant recipient wants to inspire donors � Mt Aspiring
By Marjorie Cook
US heart transplant recipient Kelly Perkins returned to Wanaka victorious on Saturday after climbing the 2246m peak of the Rolling Pin in the Mt Aspiring National Park last week.
Mrs Perkins (43), her husband Craig (43) and filmmakers Michael Brown (38) and David d’Angelo had intended to scale the 3300m Mt Aspiring with Nick Cradock and Milo Gilmour, of Aspiring Guides, Wanaka.
However, soft snow conditions made the ascent impossible.
Instead, Mr Cradock and Mr Gilmour guided the team, which is in New Zealand promoting organ donation awareness, to the top of the Rolling Pin, to the west of Mt Aspiring.
The experience has whetted the team’s appetite to return to New Zealand and attempt Mt Aspiring again.
�We were all up there [in Colin Todd Hut] waiting and hoping it would freeze so it would stabilise. But it was too risky,� Mrs Perkins said.
� . . . It wasn’t completely disappointing just because it wasn’t safe. We want to change the [death] statistics, not be a statistic,� she said.
The Rolling Pin route was technically more challenging than their planned route because it had steeper snow and followed ridges, she said.
The excursion was not without its moment of drama.
Mrs Perkins, who climbs with specialised medical equipment, experienced a sudden drop in blood pressure, taking some five minutes to recover from a dizzy spell.
She was roped to a guide and did not feel unsafe, although her husband Craig said he felt concerned.
�It wasn’t the best place.
�You couldn’t have picked a worse place,� he said.
�But we all have limitations.
�We work with that. Whatever the challenge, we have to do a work around,� Mrs Perkins responded.
The Perkins have scaled many mountains in the quest to promote organ donation.
They were climbers and trampers before Mrs Perkins became ill with a virus in 1992 and had a transplant in 1995.
They accept other recipients would not want or be able to climb mountains after a transplant but hope their experiences inspire people to donate organs on their death so ill people can make the most of their lives.
�Climbing in the Mt Aspiring National Park had a theme and message about it we wanted to communicate. It is about aspiring to do things in our own lives.
�This place is representative of that, not only in name but in challenges,� Mr Perkins said.
�By the time we come back, we hope a New Zealand heart transfer recipient will have done it first.�
The couple’s next adventure is to climb Al Capiton in the Yosemite National Park in the US in September.
Their planned route takes them over the Salanthe Route, across a heart-shaped formation.
The 1000m cliff is regarded as the holy grail of achievements among rock climbers and base jumpers.
Serac Films will also accompany them.
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Katie Tookey's story is on video.
Kiwis like Katie depend on 'the gift of life'.
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