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A Polish Pole
10:48 a.m. EST Apr 6, 2004
On 27th July, 2002, 13 year old Jasiek Mela suffered an electric shock of 15,000 volts. He lost a leg and an arm, but he didn’t lose hope. Today, after one and half years of rehabilitation and preparations he will attempt to reach the North Pole on skies.
Expedition “Together to the Pole” will be dropped off about 100Km from the Pole and will travel an estimated six days by skis.
The challenges faced by a ‘healthy’ person pale in comparison to those with disabilities. Yet feeling sorry for these adventurers is out of the question. In fact, there have been a small handful of expeditions who have overcome their disabilities to achieve what very few can claim.
Nawang Sherpa, attempting Everest this year with one prosthetic leg; Ed Hommer, the first double-amputee to climb Mt. McKinley; Kelly Perkins, a heart transplant patient and summiteer of the Matterhorn; and Reg Spence, the recipient of a donor liver who plans to reach the South Pole.
The expedition team: Marek Kaminski - expedition leader, Wojtek Moskal, Wojtek Ostrowski, filmmaker, and Jasiek Mela. They left Poland on April 4th.
Marek is the first person to have done both Poles back to back and unsupported, only one other expedition has accomplished that feat since.
Image of Marek and Jasiek training for the expedition courtesy of Justyna Śliwicka
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