Please show your support as Grant, Erik, and Natalie climb to the summit of Cotopaxi Volcano in an effort to raise money and awareness for multiple myeloma, a currently incurable blood cancer. All donations will benefit the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, which has already worked to create 6 new drugs over the past 10 years and helped double the lifespan of myeloma patients. Hey everyone! Our names are Grant Norstrom, Erik Norstrom, and Natalie Bick and we’re college students from Michigan. At 12:00 a.m. on January 4th, we will leave our base camp in Ecuador to summit Cotopaxi Volcano. Reaching a height of 5,897 meters (that’s 19,347 feet), Cotopaxi is considered the third highest active volcano in the world! So far, the highest any of us has ever climbed is 1,100 meters, which is roughly a sixth of the height of Cotopaxi. What does that mean? Well, that means the next eight hours of climbing the steep mountainside, crossing the crevasses, and passing the hanging seracs will likely be some of the most challenging hours of our lives.
<img class="not-resizable" src="https://2dbdd5116ffa30a49aa8-c03f075f8191fb4e60e74b907071aee8.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/2364684_1415586107.3876_funddescription.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> But sometimes all it takes is a little bit of perspective to see how small even your biggest obstacles are compared to what others face on a daily basis. In the spring of 2014, our (Erik and Grant's) beautiful Mom was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a currently incurable blood cancer. As she has begun her journey receiving treatment, our Mom has inspired those around her and proven that multiple myeloma patients around the world are ready to fight and defeat this cancer — all they need are the tools to do so. <img class="not-resizable" src="https://2dbdd5116ffa30a49aa8-c03f075f8191fb4e60e74b907071aee8.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/2364684_1415586159.8259_funddescription.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> Just as we will have an expert mountaineering guide to assist us every step along the way to the summit of Cotopaxi, multiple myeloma patients have a team of brilliant doctors behind them that are doing extraordinary things to make their treatment possible. However, while we will have ropes, crampons, and ice axes to make it to the summit, multiple myeloma patients and their doctors do not have the necessary tools to truly cure this cancer. Thankfully there are organizations such as the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation that are working relentlessly to make such vitally important tools a reality for the estimated 24,000 patients diagnosed with the cancer in the U.S. each year. The MMRF designates 90% of its budget to cancer research, which has resulted in 6 new drugs over the past 10 years and helped double the lifespan of myeloma patients. In fact, the clinical trial our mom is participating in offers a new, promising drug that the MMRF fast-tracked to the clinical trial phase.<img class="not-resizable" src="https://2dbdd5116ffa30a49aa8-c03f075f8191fb4e60e74b907071aee8.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/2364684_1415586209.7693_funddescription.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> It’s easy to see that the daily challenges faced by MM patients and the MMRF are far greater than the challenge we will face on January 4th. And so, we want our challenge in Ecuador to become a part of their solution. And we need your help to do that. By summiting Cotopaxi Volcano we are aiming to do two things: First, we hope to raise awareness for multiple myeloma patients and families around the world. Their incredibly brave battles with this cancer inspire us to live a better life and appreciate each day we are blessed with. Second, we are aiming to raise $1,000 for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. That equates to $125 for each of the 8 hours we will spend climbing from base camp to the summit of Cotopaxi. Donations to this incredibly successful research foundation are truly saving lives and we ask you to please be a part of that success. We believe no donation of yours is too small and that, with your support, increasingly effective treatment options and eventually a cure for multiple myeloma are in our future. Please note that none of the money raised will be used to fund our climb or our mother’s individual fight with multiple myeloma. All donations will be a direct payment to the MMRF via gofundme.com and will go towards the continuation of developing new drugs and treatments in the hopes of finding a cure. Whether it is a monetary donation or simply spreading awareness about multiple myeloma, we greatly appreciate your support! For more information about the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation and to learn more about this cancer and the incredible advancements they have made in treating it, please visit: <a href="http://www.themmrf.org/">www.themmrf.org/</a> Sincerely, Grant, Erik, and Natalie

Pat & Julie Heslin

Sally Anglim

Molly pinho

Jim, Patti and Connor

Sandy Schnakenburg

The Galczyk Family

Grzybowski  Family

Anonymous

Munaco  Family

Shannon Blash

Stephen H Morgan

Pat & Warren Gould

Rob & Natalie Mazzola

Lindsey Mestdagh

Megan courtley

Climbing For A Cure: Mult. Myeloma

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

currencyCode

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

writePath

Stream Notification

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

Native 11.3.0 and above

Influencer - Prod

US fundraisers and US users

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

manual_entry

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

partnerId

donationCadence

isActiveFundraiser

isPartner

isMobile

npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Climbing For A Cure: Mult. Myeloma

Still $1,095 to go. Help us build momentum.