Climbing Mount Everest for Teddy Bears

KATY, Texas -- Climbing Mount Everest for teddy bears? A father and son team from Katy is about to embark on the challenge of their lifetime, and the elder half has never climbed, hiked or scaled anything tall.

"I’ve climbed a hill. That's about it," said Delisle Doherty, who turned 50 years old. "When you do a 5k run, you get a lot of attention. When you climb a mountain, you get even more."

In just three months, Doherty, his son nick, and a stuffed bear will attempt to climb highest mountain in the world.

Yes, the bear, named Everet, is going along. After all, he’s the reason they're going.

The Doherty's are raising money for the Joe Joe Bear Foundation, named after one of Nick's friends.

Joe Ordaz died of leukemia last March, at age 24. But while he was hospitalized, Ordaz often shared stories of how he'd hear children crying in the middle of night.

"This is kinda a way of carrying out his wish to help those children and comfort them while they're in need," said Nick Doherty.

Since Ordaz's death 11 months ago, his friends have given teddy bears to 2100 cancer stricken children. But lately, the donation boxes have been pretty empty.

The Doherty's, who train three times a week for their climb, hope they can raise awareness and money to collect more bears.

For nick, his friend's memory will be on his mind, as he makes his climb. Before he died, Joe Ordaz was training to be a firefighter or join the military.

"He wanted to push himself to the extreme he could and go as far as he could," nick said. "That's one of the those things that will definitely keep me going."

As for Delisle, who admits to being somewhat out of shape, "My climb ends. I climb up the mountain. I'm done in 12 days and I’m in pain for a week and then I’m done. I go about my life," he said. "These kids everyday have to wonder what is gonna happen? How long are they gonna be in the hospital? Hospital rooms can get very dark, very lonely, very cold. And it's important that these kids know what they have something there that can comfort them. It (the teddy bear) is there after visiting hours."

Weblink:
http://www.joejoebear.org/
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