Lakeshore Advance, 2011-11-23, Page 22 Lakeshore Advance • Wednesday, November 23, 2011
On top of the world
CONTINUED FROM > PAGE 1
small flight of stairs and I had a better
understanding of what my mom goes
through every day."
Kandis notes her mom, who was
diagnosed with MS 16 years ago, was
her inspiration for tackling the
mountain.
"They were the hardest eight days
of my life," says llodgins of the eight-
day hike up to base camp alongside a
porter who carried her 45 pounds of
gear. "You are pushing your body to
extreme limits on a low amount of
oxygen. You are moving at a snail's
pace."
In order to be able to take part in
the MS Society -hosted challenge,
Kandis was required to raise a mini-
mum of $12,500.
"1 thought, 'hey, what an awesome
opportunity to raise more money for
the MS Society," she says, noting she
has participated in a number of MS•
fundraisers in the past, including MS
Walks and flower sales.
In fact, raising $12,500 proved to he
something llodgins readily accom-
plished and in the end she raised the
second most, at $21,000, through a
variety of events including walking
around Grand Bend covered in duct
tape on Canada Day with a group of
friends that explained her cause.
"1 raised $50(1 in two hours," she
notes. "Small town, great support."
Thanks to the community's support
for the cause, llodgins made her way
to Katmandu, after requesting the
local radio station play the song with
the same name a few times, in late
October.
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Submitted photos
To the top for MS
Grand Bend native Kandis Hodglns recently climbed to Mount Everest's notorious base camp as part of a
team raising money for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Kandis's mom, Lori, was her inspiration.
"We arrived at night and the
security was way different than
anything we experience here,"
she says, noting her small
group had a chance to do some
sight seeing, including a trip to
a Buddhist monastery, before
the climb began.
Trekking up to Mount
Everest's base camp was
enough for llodgins to realize
though she would love to see
Nepal again, her future aspira-
tions do not include a career in
mountain climbing.
"It was a lot harder than I
imagined it would be," she says,
noting when they reached base
camp the group still had to
climb for nearly another three
hours uphill to arrive at their
lodging for the night. Ironi-
cally, she only saw the peak of
Mount Everest once and that
was on the day before the
group reached base camp.
Indeed, she notes, because of
the nature of how mountain
climbing works, she found
herself walking uphill for the
last hours of the climb only to
find when they arrived at the
notorious Lukla Airport, which
is known as the home of the
world's most dangerous runway,
they could not leave on their
regularly scheduled flight.
"We were stuck in a cloud,"
she says.
Hodgins notes the cloud was
so thick that the situation
played itself out in the news as
dozens of trekkers were
stranded on the mountain for
days and many of them,
llodgins included, could not
contact loved ones because
neither Net or cell service is
available there.
In the end, Hodgins says,
every challenge and every step
was worth it given more than
$150,000 was raised for the MS
Society.
Thleves target liquor store
For the News -Record
The Huron OPP is seeking tips
following a break and enter at
the Exeter branch of the LCBO
on Nov. 16.
Police responded to a 2 a.m.
alarm call on Nov. 16. Officers
found the front window of the
Main St. business had been
smashed.
An OPP canine handler and
dog attended the scene for track-
ing purposes but the suspect was
not located. Police have reviewed
the store video surveillance and
a lone male wearing a dark col-
oured mask, blue heavy mid
length Jacket and carrying a
bright blue duffle bag is observed
inside the store.
The store is reporting a loss of
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seven 1.75I. bottles of whiskey.
Any person with information
regarding this incident should
immediately contact Hu
OPP at 1-888-310-1122 or (•.
524-8314. Those wishing to
remain anonymous can call
Crime Stoppers at 1-800-22'2-
TIPS (8477). Callers may be eli-
gible to receive a cash reward
of up to $2,000.