Fredericksburg, TX
August 13, 2003

Art Shafer 'Giving Back'
By Yvonne Hartmann

OWING HIS LIFE to re-search that has been done in past years, Art Shafer of Fredericksburg is planning to give something back by helping raise money and awareness of prostate cancer by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro as part of the Second Hap Weyman Memorial Prostate Cancer Climb in September. – Standard-Radio Post Photo

Art Shafer is living by the motto, “do unto others ….”

At 75, Shafer is a prostate cancer survivor who plans to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in September to raise awareness and money for the disease from which he is now symptom-free.

“I believe that I owe my life to the research that has been done in past years,” Shafer said. “Looking into future research can surely save an untold number of lives. This is why I believe I am obligated to try for this climb and add to the publicity it will bring to prostate cancer awareness.”

Shafer is the oldest among a team of 27 climbers who will be tackling Mt. Kilimanjaro in September as part of the Second Hap Weyman Memorial Prostate Cancer Climb. The team includes climbers from Ireland, Canada, South Africa and the United States.

The goal of the team is to raise $1,000,000 to finance prostate cancer research now and in the future.

“Several of us are cancer survivors, and we believe we are obligated to repay our debt to those who financed the research in the past that has saved our lives,” Shafer said.

A combination of hormone therapy and radiation treatments have kept his disease in check, but now Shafer is “worried” that the 19,400-foot “Kili” summit might be just out of his reach.

But he is still determined to try.

“After studying all accounts of the mountain, I am convinced that only the wings of an angel will put me on the summit, but I will give it everything I’ve got,” he said.

He says he owes his life to two doctors, Michael Jones of Fredericksburg and John M. Barnett of the Kerrville Cancer Center.

Along with the two doctors, Shafer said he also owes his life to “research bought and paid for by the lives of many men and the generous donations of many citizens in past years.”

According to statistics supplied by Shafer, this year and every year, 200,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and 30,000 of them will die. Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men.

“By the law of averages, some of you readers will have prostate cancer, some probably already do,” Shafer said. “It is certain that some of your sons, grandsons, brothers, fathers will. In America, one in every three families is touched by it.”

He added that “any research money we raise now will save many of the 200,000 men who get the disease and afford them a better life.”

Because the team’s goal is to raise money for cancer awareness and research, most of the climbers are paying the majority of their own expenses for the climb.

Shafer is also turning to the community to help the team reach its goal and “to make an investment in the future of our men.”

“Dollars spent now may be the ones that save your sons and grandsons,” he said.

To qualify for the climb, Shafer is required to raise $2,000 or more in donations to the Prostate Cancer Research Institute.

He has donation cards and post-paid addressed envelopes available.

Anyone interested in making a donation can contact him at 830-997-4498 or go on-line to make a contribution by visiting the website,
www.prostatecancerclimb.org and clicking on climbers.

One dollar spent today will save lives in the future, he said. “It saved ours.”

Mount Kilimanjaro, the fabled 19,400-foot peak in Tanzania, will be the second high-altitude target for a team of climbers to raise $1 million for prostate cancer research and education.

The Prostate Cancer Research Institute (PCRI), one of the leading educational support organizations in America, is heading up the Second Hap Weyman Memorial Prostate Cancer Climb.

A PCRI-led team of 14 climbers, including five with prostate cancer, climbed Mt. Aconcagua, Argentina, in 2001, the start of a unique fundraising and awareness movement known as the Prostate Cancer Climb. The 22,840-foot Mt. Aconcagua is the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere.

Among those climbing Mt. Aconcagua was Bob Butler, another Fredericksburg resident.

The Prostate Cancer Climb was established three years ago by Dr. Terry Weyman, a Los Angeles chiropractor whose father, Hollywood television director Hap Weyman, died of the disease in 1990.

Weyman’s goal: To show that prostate cancer needn’t be a death sentence and that through proper awareness and education prevention can be possible.

For Shafer, the upcoming trip also satisfies a desire to visit Africa. He and some of the others will also be going on a safari.

But he is quick to point out that none of the donations will be used for “anything like that.”

He said that, when others found out about his upcoming trip, he heard comments like “You might get hurt. You might meet a terrorist on the plane. But I say, ‘What have I got to lose?’”

And with September just around the corner, Shafer is waiting for final approval from his doctor (due to a blood pressure condition) to make the climb.

“I plan to go even if I can’t climb and offer what assistance I can to the group from our base in Moshi, Tanzania,” Shafer said.