James McGuffey, a Colorado Springs–based hepatitis C virus (HCV) advocate, will be scaling mountains once again this year to help raise awareness and funds for viral liver disease, and to honor his wife and the mother of his children, Carleen, who is living with the virus, Boulder Weekly reports.
McGuffey, a 42-year-old father of six, wrote for Hep last year before his first HCV awareness trek, in which he and his oldest son, Kaleb, climbed Mount Rainier in Washington under the campaign name “Climbing for Carleen.” The expedition helped raise funds for the American Liver Foundation (ALF), which will be joining up with the family once again this year for their annual climb.
This year, from June 5 to 8, McGuffey will be trekking up California’s Mount Shasta with his 12-year-old son, Kendell, who is now ALF’s youngest mountain climbing advocate.
The McGuffey family was inspired to begin these climbing campaigns after seeing Carleen go through her own mountain of pain, misinformed medical advice and a botched liver biopsy soon after she was diagnosed with hep C.