Mariana Ramos
Four years ago, Ken Brown, a resident of our dear Chicago, received news that would forever change his life.
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According to WGN, Ken was told he had a five per cent chance of survival after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, the five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer sufferers ranges between 14 and one per cent.
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But Ken wasn’t alone, he had the help of Dr. Malcom Bilimoria of the Northwest Community Healthcare in Arlington Heights. The two men paired up and together, he was able to cure Ken’s life threatening disease. And with the odds stacked against him the fact that he is even alive today makes Brown a remarkable survivor.
“I could see when I first met Ken, he was a lot like the patients I see in the clinic, a real fighter,” Dr. Bilimoria says.
And just last month, in a celebration of his cancer-free state, he and Dr. Malcom set off to beat another record, scaling the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania
“I think it was just meant to be,” Ken says, adding that he had no concern about whether or not he reached the top. “I have already hiked the tallest mountain that anyone could possibly hike, pancreatic cancer, with Dr. Bilimoria’s help.”
He added of the ascent up the 20,000ft summit: ‘I have already hiked the tallest mountain that anyone could possibly hike, pancreatic cancer, with Dr. Bilimoria’s help.’
Brown’s cancer was detected early, right after his mother died and he was experiencing symptoms that felt like dehydration. Early detection along with his positive attitude and glass-half-full mentality led to a great result. Bilimoria told Brown all his travels past and those coming up. Besides mentioning stops in Bolivia and China, Dr. Malcom also mentioned a difficult trip, this one to Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, with a group of eight others, including fellow doctors at Northwest Community and their friends.
“I said, ‘You can’t go without me. That’s my dream,'” Brown told his doctor.
Ken recalls his passion for climbing Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa at 19,341 feet above sea level, began during a 2011 safari. From afar, he snapped a photo to the mountain and kept it in his office as a reminder ever since.
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In the days after that conversation with his doctor, Brown started to give a trip to Kilimanjaro more serious thought, getting some encouragement from his daughter-in-law.
They finished up their journey on October 12 and, though Brown just missed out on making the summit after suffering from an unrelated health problem, he was delighted at having the opportunity to camp under the stars.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGX1eSJCb8s
