My mission with Everest-007 was to inspire the youth of Newfoundland and Labrador to go after their dreams and to get more physically active. I presented this message to over 10,000 youth in the province before my Everest expedition. During the expedition, several schools undertook physical activity projects that mimicked my ascent of Everest. I received 25-30 emails a day from children while I was on the mountain. Despite not getting to "climb as high as I wished," my quest to make Everest "More than a Mountain" was a resounding success.

Some dreams we are born with. Others arise from weft of our life experience. Late last week, I returned from Nepal having pursued my lifelong dream of climbing Mount Everest, the world’s tallest mountain.

I often says that a summit results when 10,000 hours of training meet moments of luck.

My luck ran short on Mount Everest. Shortly after reaching basecamp, I was struck down by bronchitis and had to return to a lower elevation to heal. After my return to basecamp, I completed what was described by Alan Arnette as "a heroic climb" to Camp Two on Mount Everest.

Camp Two is situated at 6500 meters and is 75% of the way up the mountain.

During that ascent, my symptoms of giardia began. I vomited for 10 days and lost 15% of my bodyweight in the process.

This significant loss of weight reduced my strength considerably and stole the deep reserve any mountaineer needs at extreme altitudes.

After descending once again to try to heal, I realized that my strength would not return in time to allow a safe summit bid. I made one of hardest decisions of my life by choosing to abandon the climb in favour of safety.