In celebration of his 40th birthday, Guelph's Craig Earley planned a trip to Cape Town, South Africa, to volunteer with school sports programs. A personal trainer and registered massage therapist, Earley has always loved the outdoors. He says an adventurous spirit was instilled in him and his brother Keith by their mother, Judy Jenner.
But just two days before he was set to depart in early September 2019, Earley got a devastating phone call. His mother had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and was set to start treatment right away. Doctors were not optimistic that she would live for more than six months.
“My initial thought was, I'm going to cancel, I'm going to be there with her,” said Earley. “But she told me there is no way I was not going to Africa.”
Jenner raised her two boys in Cambridge as a single mother. She worked various jobs including as a lab technician and a home renovator. Summer weekends were spent at the family’s trailer in Woodstock or hiking, swimming and canoeing in Algonquin Park. She had a fondness of Kingscote Lake - a secluded spot in the southern tip of the provincial park.
“She was the kind of person that was always about making things happen. (She did) things rather than find reasons not to,” said Earley.
He struggled with the decision to leave his mother at such a critical time, but she was insistent that he go. Her toughness inspired him.
“I knew she was a fighter. So I felt like I had to do something at the same time and fight with her. My mindset going into it was, if my mom could do that, I could do anything.”
Earley flew to Cape Town where he volunteered for three weeks, teaching sports to students. Then, he decided to attempt his longtime goal of hiking Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
Over the course of seven days, Earley hiked the grueling ascent of the highest mountain in Africa. He did it alone, save for the company of his guide, porters and chef. While his mother was undergoing chemotherapy back in Ottawa, Earley wanted to fight along with her in one of the best ways he knew how.
“I sent her a video every morning when I woke up,” he said. “She was sharing all my videos with the nurses in the hospital. It's special to know that she was so proud.”
For the experienced hiker, Kilimanjaro is not too technical but can be incredibly difficult nonetheless. Earley describes having cramped muscles at night from dehydration and the struggle to acclimatize to a total altitude of 5,895 metres above sea level. He approached the summit on the seventh day, hitting the trail late at night to make it in time for the sunrise.
“I honestly thought I was going to die at certain points,” he said. “There were people throwing up, falling over, being rushed down the mountain. It was pretty intense.”
Still, he says he had only one person on his mind.
“That’s where mum came in. It was just me, my head and my mum.”
Upon his return to Canada, Jenner had been discharged from hospital. Her cancer had gone into remission after a bone marrow transplant operation and, despite a compromised immune system that put her at a high risk of infection, she seemed to be doing well.
But the family’s relief was short lived. In early 2020, the cancer came back and Jenner was readmitted to hospital to undergo another round of treatment. This time, she didn’t pull through. Jenner passed away on April 11 in Smiths Falls at the age of 67.
While the family can’t hold a celebration of life during the pandemic, Earley says he plans to make an outdoor adventure a yearly tradition in memory of his late mother.
“It's always going to be something that we do with my nephews, my step-kids, my wife and everybody in our family. We’ll plan an annual family camping trip in her honour.”
