By Kirk Boxleitner

On Sunday, March 10, 13 members of East Jefferson Fire Rescue took part in the 33nd annual Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Firefighter Stairclimb, up the Columbia Center in downtown Seattle, with one local first-timer distinguishing himself among his peers nationwide.

As the world’s largest stair-climbing competition, this event drew an estimated 2,000 firefighters, from across the country and around the world, to the tallest building in Seattle, where they climbed 69 floors and 1,356 steps, to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Curtis Beery, an East Jefferson firefighter and emergency medical technician, spoke to The Leader the day after the event, which was his fifth annual Leukemia and Lymphoma Society stairclimb, although he pointed out that those numbers vary depending on each firefighter.

Beery noted that Lt. Wicus McGuffey, a fellow East Jefferson firefighter and EMT with 25 years of service, has been taking part in the stairclimb for most of its history, while this year marked the first stairclimb for East Jefferson firefighter/EMTs Elijah Le and Naaman McGuffey.

While Le has a year of service in the field, McGuffey was just hired at the start of the new year, and his climb time of 14:44 earned him a rank of 36th out of the 2,000 total competitors.

“With agencies from 24 states in America alone represented, that’s pretty good,” Beery said.

Beery acknowledged that blood cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma hit personally for East Jefferson Fire Rescue members, since Lt. Alex Morris’ brother Justin was diagnosed with the same type of lymphoma that Beery himself survived during his senior year of high school.

”I’ve been in remission for six years now,” Beery said.

Patrick McNerthney, a 74-year-old volunteer firefighter/EMT with East Jefferson Fire Rescue who has 24 years of service, not only completed his 22nd annual Leukemia and Lymphoma Society stairclimb this year, but also raised $3,669 of the $7,865 total raised, as of press time, by all of East Jefferson Fire Rescue, making McNerthney their lead fundraiser.

“I’m lucky I’m still in good health,” McNerthney said. “It’s actually tougher mentally than it is physically, since my body tells me not to do it, in the preparations leading up to the stairclimbs.”

And the day after the stairclimb, McNerthney reported no physical symptoms, as he insisted that going multiple flights downstairs has typically been more painful for him, “since it’s the front of your thighs that get sore. But upstairs? No; one day later, there’s no stiffness at all.”

McNerthney added that generous souls can still donate through the East Jefferson Fire Rescue page on llswa.org online.

”By raising money for these cancer patients, we can give them better days, and hopefully more of them,” McNerthney said. “It’s challenging, but it’s also fun, and it’s all for a good cause.”