The Fight For Air Climb is just around the corner – it’s your chance to help the American Lung Association fight lung disease.
7-year-old twins Addelyn and Beckett Cordova are getting ready for their first climb.
“Mom’s been doing it probably since… when, Mom?” Beckett says.
“She’s been doing it 10 years!” Addelyn chimes in. “And we’ve only been alive seven years.”
“And this is the first time we’ve ever done it!” Beckett adds.
The pair are the youngest participants in the 2023 Fight for Air Climb, and they’re excited to play around at American Family Field.
“We’re going to run up there, because we’re going to imagine stuff,” Beckett says. “Like, I’m going to imagine there’s a Lego trophy at the top so I can be a Lego master.”
“And I’m going to imagine – my favorite thing is treats, so I’m going to imagine a trophy filled with gummy bears, lots of other treats like lollipops, donuts and ice cream,” Addelyn adds.
Across town, 92-year-old John Mulhern is the oldest climber – and he’s happy to simply challenge himself.
“I figure, I’m not sure there will be anyone there my age doing it and in the past, the reason I liked doing the bank building is I had a model for myself – non-stop to the top!” John says.
In fact, he preferred doing the climb at the US Bank Building because he says it was harder!
“I’m rather active, but that’s because I want to be,” John explains.
Despite being decades apart, these climbers have one thing in common – a familiarity with lung disease.
For John, it’s with his wife Beryl.
“She has bronchiectasis and she’s on an oxygen support system at night,” John says.
For the Cordova twins, it’s even more personal. Their mom, Megan, says they were born at 27 weeks.
“They were on oxygen. Addelyn was 2 pounds and Beckett was a little over 2 pounds. He had 24-hour respiratory care, his lung collapsed when he was 2 days old,” Megan recalls.
When the pair get sick, their respiratory systems take the brunt – especially when they recently got COVID-19.
“Not super good, not super good,” Beckett says.
“I felt like I couldn’t breathe,” Addelyn adds.
So, these climbers may be motivated by challenge, or dreams of big prizes.
But they know the money raised is pretty important, too.
“The purpose of the run is real good, to do more research and help more people,” John says, sitting alongside his wife of 60-plus years. “And I assume some of the past research is why they have a way of treating what she has.”
“If we can raise enough money for this one, for this sickness, we can probably raise enough money for the next year!” Beckett adds.
The American Lung Association has raised more than $13 million just in the past year. 90 cents of every dollar raised goes straight back to programming, services and research for people with lung disease. The Fight for Air Climb is one of the organization’s biggest fundraisers.
If you’d like to contribute to the Fight for Air Climb or participate, just follow this link.
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