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Climbing For a Cure

A former tennis pro, Carol Mellberg, 43, of Los Gatos, California, used to think hiking was boring. But then last year the art therapist and mother of a 2-year-old son was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy. Determined to do whatever she could to fight the disease (which took her grandmother's life), this former "flatlander" signed up for Climb Against the Odds (breastcancerfund.org/climb), a 14-hour trek to the summit of Mt. Shasta in California that raises money for breast-cancer research. To train, Mellberg hiked and climbed every day. On July 12, she and 39 other women attempted to scale the mountain. Although she and 23 others didn't make it to the top, Mellberg has no regrets; she raised more than $11,000 and says the experience was "totally therapeutic, since I did it for a cause I believe in."