Five Liver Transplant Recipients Preparing to Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro

Five liver transplant recipients are in the final stages of training for an attempt in February to scale Africa's highest peak, Mt. Kilimanjaro, in a bid to focus attention on the need for increased organ donation.

The five Belgians will be following in the footsteps of Kelly Perkins, a California woman who climbed the mountain in 2001 after receiving a heart transplant in 1995 (see earlier Transplant Week story).

The expedition was organized by Professor Jacques Pirenne, a transplant surgeon from the University of Leuven in Belgium who has already climbed Kilimanjaro twice.

Prof Pirenne said the aim of the expedition -- called "Kili Liver Live" -- was to recognise the "gift of life" that organ donation offers to transplant recipients.

Other sources: Roche