The cancer survivor who walked out of hospital and up Kilimanjaro

Is there anything Bala Gangiah can’t do? At 57 years old, he’s opened his own restaurant, run more than 20 marathons and published three books. But when doctors discovered a cancerous cyst on his kidney, the diagnosis threw Gangiah off course. Within a month, he was forced to have the organ removed. When the shock subsided, Gangiah’s tenacity kicked into overdrive. “Your mind can only be focused on one thing at a time,” he says. So Gangiah embarked on a spectacular challenge to redirect his attention.

Having already climbed to Everest base camp, Kilimanjaro was next on his list. Neither doctors nor his family approved of his ambitions. But Gangiah had made up his mind. Immediately after surgery, he walked up and down the hospital corridors to start training. “My body may have been weak but my mind was a thousand times stronger,” Gangiah says. Exercise, yoga, and a healthy diet boosted his recovery. On 17 December 2018, Gangiah took his first steps up the perilous trail of Africa’s highest mountain.

Braving hail, snow, and extreme altitude change, Gangiah conquered the 5 895-metre peak just six months after being cleared of cancer. His accomplishment demonstrates the potential of positive thinking. “You set the limitation in your mind,” Gangiah says. “You have the power to break that.”