$1-MILLION FUNDRAISER OFFERS WINDOW VIEW
Teen to try 20-storey rappel at Westin to boost foundation’s funds
Journal reporter Tyler Dawson rappels 20 storeys down the Westin Hotel on Tuesday during a media event for the Make-A-Wish Rope for Hope fundraiser. See a video of the descent from his point of view at edmontonjournal.com/extras. See more photos at edmontonjournal.com/photo.
Shelby Asmundson-Hall is set to face her fear of heights on Wednesday as she rappels down the side of the Westin Edmonton Hotel to raise money for the Make-a-Wish Foundation.
The 19-year-old, a former wish child herself, realized she was scared of heights when she went cliff jumping.
“I looked down and I was like ‘No, I can’t do this,’ and that’s been the end of that,” Asmundson-Hall said.
She figures getting over the edge of the building will be the hardest part.
Forty-four people will be going off the side of the hotel in the Rope for Hope event and rappelling 20 storeys to the sidewalk below. All funds raised — the organization is hoping to raise $1 million across the country — will go to help fulfil wishes.
Asmundson-Hall went on a trip to Australia for a week in November 2012, thanks to the Make-a-Wish Foundation, following her surgery for thyroid cancer.
“It’s just somewhere I always wanted to go, so I guess I thought if I can have the opportunity to do it, then why not embrace it?” she said.
She was diagnosed with cancer in Grade 11 when she was 16 and had her surgery at the Stollery Children’s Hospital. After taking iodine radiation — which left her radioactive and quarantined in her bedroom for two weeks — she now needs only her blood work checked a couple of times a year.
The trip to Australia took her down the coast and to Sydney. She went with her mom and dad and younger sister Katelyn. The most memorable part was riding horses along the ocean.
Asmundson-Hall is an enthusiastic horseback rider, and does barrel racing.
“They gave me more than I ever could’ve imagined,” she said of the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Now that she’s cancer free, Asmundson-Hall is back riding horses. She is also a competitive skipping rope jumper, something she got into years ago at home in Camrose. She said she hopes to go to Paris, France, next year for a jump rope competition.
Asmundson-Hall is still involved with the foundation and said they check in with her regularly. She’s doing the rappel to help support the foundation and has been seeking pledges from the community to raise money for other kids to get to make a wish.
She rappels shortly after noon on Wednesday.
Her only similar prior experience was going on a zip line in Australia.
“That was big enough because we were in the biggest rainforest in the world,” she explained.
There are eight separate Rope for Hope events happening across the country, and this is the first time the event is happening in Edmonton.