The roar of the icy cyclone was deafening as Jack and William Lundin reached Everest Base Camp 4, ominously called the “Death Zone,” where Mother Nature’s unpredictable temperament often dictates whether a mountaineer keeps to his quest or retreats.
Here at more than 8,000 metres, on the unforgiving south side of Mount Everest, the Lundin brothers took refuge in the one tent that stayed true to its tethers amidst the howling maelstrom of ice crystals.
The air outside in this moonscape of ice and rock was so thin that every ragged breath felt like shards of glass piercing their lungs.
Frostbite was also taking hold on some of the expedition team members as an assortment of fingers and toes were growing numb and lifeless in the sub-zero temperatures.
Inside the tent, the team pondered their next move while reminiscing about the treacherous trek which had brought them within 850 metres of the highest point on Earth, via the Valley of Silence and the constantly shifting crevasses of the Khumbu Icefall.
As the cyclone’s fury kept reaching new crescendos, the punishing gusts that knifed through the flimsy canvas walls of the tent were signalling the climbers to abandon their hard-won progress and head back down.
“It was a scary moment…We didn’t know if we were going to summit or go back down because the cyclone had hit and it was not in the weather forecast,” said Jack. But the mountain’s merciless elements were no match for the resolve imbued in Jack and William by their father, Lukas Lundin, the globally renowned resource titan who had died a year earlier from glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.
“Every step of this journey was in honour of dad…We felt like dad was looking down on us and protecting us when we were climbing. There was no way we were going to give up on the summit...I kept thinking about my dad who was always about staying positive, making the most out of every single day and seizing opportunities.” — Jack Lundin
The opportunity to complete the ascent came suddenly in the inky Himalayan darkness on May 15, when the winds shifted direction, creating a small but risky window for the final push.
“We were the only group that was going to attempt the summit push that night,” said Jack, adding the final 850-metres was “pretty much straight up the whole way.”
“Whether my toes were going to freeze off or not, I was going to go for that summit push,” William said.
Fuelled by their father’s philosophy, Jack and William made it to top of the world on the morning of May 16, 2023, the pinnacle achievement of Project No Limit, the campaign to raise awareness and funding for glioblastoma research and the Lundin Cancer Fund.
Jack and William’s Everest expedition, which has been made into a documentary film that can be viewed on YouTube next month, will be among the highlights of the inaugural Lundin Cancer Fund Charity Gala to be held on June 20 in Vancouver.
The Gala promises to be an unforgettable celebration of Lukas Lundin’s life but more importantly, it is aimed at raising awareness and support for brain cancer research.
In this regard, the Lundin Family has pledged to match all donations, dollar for dollar.
Jack and William’s Everest climb has already raised C$1 million for the mission.
Among the speakers at the gala will be expert mountaineer, Nimsdai “Nims” Purja, who guided Jack and William’s Everest expedition. Purja’s record-smashing climb of the 14 highest mountains in the world in just seven months was documented in the Netflix film, “14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible.”
The Lundin Cancer Fund was launched in 2022 by Lukas’ sons, Harry, Adam, Jack, and William to advance the understanding, treatment and eventual cure of glioblastoma and other brain cancers.
Glioblastoma is the most common and aggressive brain tumour in adults. It accounts for 70 per cent of primary malignancy in the brain and 20 per cent of all intracranial tumours. There is currently no cure for glioblastoma. The median length of survival after a diagnosis is 15 to 18 months, while the disease’s five-year survival rate is around 10 per cent.
Though all glioblastomas recur, initial treatments may keep the tumor controlled for months or even years.
Lukas, who had founded the Lundin Group of Companies with his father and expanded it into a multibillion-dollar oil, resource and renewal energy global behemoth, developed this very aggressive form of brain cancer in 2020.
He passed away two years later at the age of 64. During the course of his illness, the family recognized that there was a considerable lack of awareness of various types of cancers, particularly brain cancers, as well as a lack of funding of clinical trials and new innovative research.
“We wanted to change that,” said Jack. In a little more than a year since its inception the Lundin Cancer Fund, has already made significant strides in advancing glioblastoma research.
Among its most notable achievements is the establishment of the Lundin Family Brain Tumour Research Centre at the Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) in Switzerland, which has been at the forefront in the fight against glioblastoma.
Other areas of focus include the development of an open-access clinical database linked to the Brain Tumour Biobank of the CHUV and researching innovative combinations of targeted therapies and drug repurposing to improve patient outcomes.
“Through strategic partnerships and committed donors, we have the potential to create an extraordinary legacy by empowering the brain tumour research community, ultimately bettering the lives of those battling glioblastoma and other brain cancers around the world,” stated the Lundin Family in the fund’s inaugural Year in Review report.
As of December 2023, more than $5.4 million has been donated to the Lundin Cancer Fund, $4 million of which has been contributed by the Lundin family.
Go here to find out more about Lundin Cancer Fund.
Market One is a proud sponsor of the Lundin Cancer Fund Charity Gala. By supporting research and patient care for glioblastoma and other brain cancers, we hope to contribute to the fight against these serious diseases. We believe in the power of community and philanthropy to make a significant impact on the lives of those affected by these challenging conditions.