Day 324
Erik Weihenmayer was born in 1969. A slight irregularity in his eyes when he was an infant alerted his parents to seek medical attention. He was diagnosed with retinoscheses, a degenerative eye disorder that progressively unraveled his retinas and claimed his eyesight by the age of thirteen.
His parents made sure their son grew up as normal as possible and taught him to be self-sufficient. He was determined from an early age to rise above his disability. In his autobiography called Touch the Top of the World: A Blind Man’s Journey To Climb Farther Than the Eye Can See, he tells how his family played an important role in his battle to break through the barriers of blindness.
His parents made sure their son grew up as normal as possible and taught him to be self-sufficient. He was determined from an early age to rise above his disability. In his autobiography called Touch the Top of the World: A Blind Man’s Journey To Climb Farther Than the Eye Can See, he tells how his family played an important role in his battle to break through the barriers of blindness.
Thanks to his relentless determination, Erik became a middle-school teacher , acrobatic skydiver, long distance biker, marathon runner, skier, wrestler, scuba diver, ice climber, and rock climber. But what caught public attention was when, on May 25 2001, he became the first blind man to reach the summit of Mount Everest, the world's highest peak and on September 5, 2002, when he stood on top of Mt. Kosciusko in Australia, thereby completing his 7-year quest to climb the Seven Summits - the highest mountains on each of the seven continents, joining only 150 mountaineers ever to do so.
Erik's extraordinary accomplishments have gained him abundant press coverage including repeated visits to many television shows. He has also been featured on the cover of Time magazine, Sports Illustrated, and People. Erik has won a wide variety of prestigious awards and has been responsible for raising millions of dollars for blind organizations and other worthy causes in the United States and around the world.
Erik is married to his long-time sweetheart Ellie. They were married at 13,000 feet on Kilimanjaro. He lives with his wife and daughter, Emma, in Golden, Colorado.
Many of us struggle to accept things the way they are and are stuck with the belief that some things are just inaccessible. Erik has proved us wrong by making the impossible possible.
"One has the ability to do so much with little things. One must succeed in spite of adversity".
Erik Weihenmayer
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