JT Mestdagh

A Springboard for Good

By 29029 Everesting

July 22^nd, 2022

I was born with something called VECTERAL syndrome - a birth defect that can impact your GI system, your heart, your kidneys, your spinal cord, and your limbs… I was blessed with only a few of these challenges instead of them all, but growing up was far from easy.

The problems began with my GI system. It was compromised from top to bottom, and over the years, I’ve undergone numerous surgeries to fix as much of it as possible.

In middle school, I developed a limp and started wetting the bed. After an MRI, doctors learned that I had a tethered spinal cord, which can cause a host of neurological problems. I was no stranger to surgeries by then - it was time for another.

I was good until high school, when some of the same symptoms started to return. It meant another surgery, and unfortunately took me away from what I enjoyed in life. I had gotten into contact sports, but after two back surgeries, that was off the table.

That was my medical journey as a kid, but my educational journey is just as important to give you context.

I was severely dyslexic, and because of all my medical issues to be attended to, working on correcting my dyslexia fell low on the priority list. In grade 5, I started to realize how bad it had gotten. I was scared to go over to my friends for fear of playing a video game and not knowing what button to press on the controller, or fear of going to a restaurant but not being able to read off the menu.

My life had been filled with people telling me no. No, you can’t play contact sports. No, you won’t be able to lead a regular life. And one of the most devastating of all, No, you won’t be able to continue at this school because you cannot read and write at the level required.

We’d tried many programs to improve my dyslexia, but found little success. Then, my parents enrolled me in the Denver Academy, which had a program geared specifically towards improving dyslexia. With their help, and some hard work, I got myself up to grade level reading and writing!

I was able to graduate high school. I was admitted to college. I was proving the naysayers wrong!

In my final year of college, I started reflecting back on my journey. I wrote a book - Untether - about it, which eventually led to me being invited to some speaking engagements.

Who would have thought the kid with severe dyslexia would author a best-selling book and start a speaking tour!

My life started down a new path after the reception of my first book. Sharing my story had touched so many others, and I wanted to do more.

That’s where 29029 entered the picture.

Some friends of mine had done it in the past, and I was immediately drawn to the scope of the challenge. It was something unique. Interesting. Different. It was a challenge that I was drawn to conquering.

A friend of mine invited me to do the event with him in 2021, and I knew I had to seize the opportunity.

I was in the midst of starting a foundation - the JT Mestdagh Foundation - to support children who have the same medical challenges I did. The timing couldn’t have been better: I’d use my participation in 29029 to launch the foundation!

An event of that magnitude would be the perfect way to draw attention, so I set a goal to raise a dollar for every foot I climbed - $29,029 for 29,029 feet.

The message clearly resonated with people. Through the magic of social media, my message went further than I’d ever expected, and before I’d even set foot on the mountain, I’d surpassed my fundraising goal!

When I first arrived on the mountain, I was nervous. With my fundraising goal achieved, I felt some extra pressure. People had come through with their generous support. Now I had to come through with climbing all 29,029 feet.

Several laps in, things were going well. It’s not like it was easy, but I was doing fine.

Lap 8 is when the real difficulties started. I was becoming dehydrated, and by the time I realized, it was almost too late. During lap 9, I continued to pay the price, and ended up getting sick on the mountain.

As I took the gondola down, it didn’t look like I was going to finish. I took a long rest, hanging around the medic tent at the bottom.

“Just keep drinking water and electrolytes, and you’ll be able to get back out on the mountain around 3 am,” they told me.

Sitting there, playing the waiting game, my mind was racing. I was doing the math - how much time would I have to do the rest of my ascents? How fast would my ascents have to be to make it? What would happen if I got sick on the mountain again? How am I going to do this?

Early in the morning, I started ascending again. This is when I started repeating the motto that would ultimately get me to the top: one foot in front of the other.

I just focused on getting to the next aid station. And then the next one. And then the top. Then I focused on the gondola ride. From the bottom, I repeated it all over again and again as I continued climbing, never focusing on more than what was directly in front of me.

One foot in front of the other led to ascent after ascent, and before I knew it, I was on the 13th and final lap!

A wall of sound greeted me at the finish - fellow participants, volunteers, and spectators cheer on every single person that climbs to the finish. Waves of emotions rolled over me. Pulling the Red Hat onto my head symbolized so much. I’d accomplished my goal. More importantly, I’d done my foundation, and all of its supporters, proud! I conquered the mountain and conquered my goals, doing some good along the way.

And on the note of the foundation, with the help of the magnitude of 29029, I was able to raise almost ten times the original goal. That’s right, by the end of 29029, the JT Mestdagh Foundation had raised almost $250,000!

29029 encouraged me to dream big. It encouraged me to try hard things, and more importantly, to continue to try hard things going forward.

I will keep doing hard things in the future, and I’ll keep fundraising for my foundation. 29029 has been a multiplier allowing me to continue to live an impactful life. And it was all thanks to getting the opportunity to pull on the finisher’s Red Hat.