When Christy Howard set out to summit Mount Kilimanjaro, the tallest freestanding mountain in the world, there was a great deal of concern that she would have a seizure, perhaps even multiple seizures. And yet, throughout the entire arduous trek, Howard did not have a single seizure.
Diagnosed with epilepsy at age 16, not long after getting her driver’s license, Howard, now 50, is no stranger to seizures. In a typical month, she may have about 20, she previously told the Chattanooga Times Free Press. Howard may have multiple seizures in one night or none for a week, and their frequency and severity has only increased as she’s aged, she previously said.
It was James Howard, Christy Howard’s husband and the host of “This ‘N That” on WTVC News Channel 9, who proposed the idea of climbing Kilimanjaro, a dormant volcano in the African nation of Tanzania. At an elevation of more than 19,000 feet, Kilimanjaro is the highest point in Africa, and reaching the summit requires multiple days of miles-long hiking that tests not just the body but also the mind. James Howard did not pressure his wife to go through with the climb; that decision was all hers, he previously told the Times Free Press.
“For me, me summiting is kind of like me telling my epilepsy that it didn’t win, that it can’t control me,” Christy Howard previously said in an interview.