A mountaineer who scaled Mount Everest after learning how to walk again has died on his return from the summit.
Jason Bernard Kennison, 40, sadly passed away on Friday, May 19. His devastated family said the mechanic "achieved his goal of reaching the peak... but sadly didn't come home".
It is understood he had started showing abnormal behaviour on his descent from the 8,849m-high peak. He had been helped by two Sherpa guides to the balcony area of the mountain, but reportedly refused to move thereafter.
Sherpa told Agence France-Presse: "Since the oxygen cylinders that they had with them were running out, they decided to descend to camp four, hoping to climb back again with oxygen cylinders to rescue him."
Mr Kennison's death came 17 years after he learned he might never be able to walk again following a near catastrophic car accident that left him with spinal chord injuries. He was using the ascent to raise cash for Spinal Cord Injuries Australia, reports the Guardian.
A statement on his Just Giving page reads: “Someone close to me convinced me that I was still capable of being able to do anything I wanted.”
It added: “In 2023 I will head to Nepal, to see and be on Mount Everest, a long way from once battling traumatic injuries and the low and dark days of depression. An ambitious feat that I would never have dreamed of, or thought was possible after once being told that I would not be able to walk.
“I am going to make the most of my life and part of that involves helping other people who have had their life changed in an instant through spinal cord injury. They shouldn’t be forgotten; they should be helped.”
Paying tribute to the Australian mountaineer, his family wrote on social media: “He was the most courageous, adventurous human we knew and he will be forever missed.”
Before he left for Everest, Kennison told 7News: “I’ve always challenged myself internally overcoming these things. Everest has become this symbol to me of overcoming those challenges and getting that fulfilment.”
More than 300 people have lost their lives attempting to reach or return from the highest point on Earth.
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