By Ryan Clark
NKyTribune reporter
Patrick Shryock already has “Katmandu” by Bob Seger loaded on his iPod.
Four years after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia DHL employee Patrick Shryock is preparing to climb to the Base Camp of Mount Everest (provided photos).
It’s for when he visits Nepal with the rest of the team on the way to Everest — something he never thought he’d be doing when he almost died.
Shryock, a 41-year-old DHL analyst and cancer survivor from Bellevue, has been busy the past couple of days packing for his trip. But how do you pack for a journey to the top of the world?
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves a bit. Let’s back up.
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DHL Express, an international courier service, is known for its yellow trucks and airplanes, as well as the use of the song, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” in their commercials. Shryock works in its Erlanger office.
This year the company and its employees are celebrating DHL’s 50th anniversary, and they’re doing so in a special way.
Company officials decided to have a contest, where staff would explain their own “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” moments, or challenging moments they’d overcome in their lives. The best would join a group of employees to climb to the Base Camp at Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world, located in the Himalayas.
DHL employs more than 100,000 employees in 220 countries, and 1,700 of them sent in personal essays for the contest. That group was cut to 900, then 24, then the 14 who would make the trip.
At first, Shryock wondered if he’d be able to finish the rigorous hike and climb to the base camp. After a moment of thought, he put pen to paper and wrote his life story, which in a lot of ways began about four years ago.
Shryock was a healthy 37-year-old who was just getting over a bout of the shingles. Every symptom he had — fatigue, muscle pains, irritability — could be attributed to shingles. He paid no attention until one day he got up and had a dark spot in his vision.
“It was acute myeloid leukemia,” he said.
And more than 75 percent of patients who suffer from it succumb to the disease within five years.
“I never looked at the odds,” Shryock said. “I’m one of these people who just go to work.”
But things had to get worse before they got better. At one point his wife and family thought he was fading. He’d developed an infection and had been placed in a medically-induced coma for 12 days.
“Of course, I don’t remember it, but that’s when my organs could’ve shut down, and if they did, that would’ve been bad,” he said.
But he held on. Doctors cured his infection, and his strength eventually came back. Now he’s been in remission for four years. In another year, he’ll be considered cured. He now enjoys training for 5K and 10K races for fundraisers and other athletic events.
Shryock at a fundraiser to help support his trip.
“I feel great,” he said. “When I’m training and I think about how hard it seems, all I have to do is remember when I was lying in that hospital bed, and I couldn’t move. Then I tell myself I can do it.”
That’s the story that earned him a trip to Everest.
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“I’m buying all the equipment now,” he said. “Now I just have to make sure it fits. I’m nervous a little, but really excited too.”
He will leave today to travel to Toronto, with a layover in Delhi, and a short stint in Kathmandu before getting to the base of Mount Everest Thursday. That’s where the climb to the Base Camp will begin.
He should be back in the area April 19.
“It’s going to be quite the adventure just getting there,” he said. And where is he going, exactly? Try 8,900 feet in the air — also known as Base Camp of Mount Everest.
At that point, they’ll start a three-hour hike to a village called Phakding, where they will spend the night. It will be like this through the rest of the trip, he said. And he will make sure to keep a log on the journey.
Mike Parra
Participants are raising money to support the work of Direct Relief, a nonprofit, nondenominational emergency preparedness and response organization that operates in 90 countries and every state. Recently the organization helped victims of the Gulf hurricanes and West Coast wildfires. Shryock impressed his peers with his ability to communicate with others, his ability to fundraise and, of course, his story.
“Patrick was selected over thousands of his global DHL colleagues for his exceptional resiliency and fundraising ideas for the charitable cause behind the DHL Everest Quest, DIRECT RELIEF,” said Mike Parra, CEO of DHL Express Americas. “We are thrilled that we can give employees, like Patrick, who have overcome great challenges in their life, the opportunity to complete a trek to Mount Everest’s basecamp and live out our company motto: Ain’t No Mountain High Enough!”
Shryock, a two-time NKU graduate, says he’ll be back in touch when he returns.
“I think for me, being a cancer survivor, this is like a second chance at life, so to speak,” he said. “I’m more apt to step out of my comfort zone. At any moment you can be struck with a diagnosis., so you want to take advantage of every moment you have.”
To check out Shryock’s blog, click here.
Donation details are available here.
Contact the Northern Kentucky Tribune at news@nkytrib.com
