Steve Price and crew raise money in son’s memory at Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Big Climb

Published 5:09 pm Thursday, March 28, 2013

When Steve Price first participated in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Big Climb in 2002, his son Trevor had just been diagnosed with leukemia a few months earlier.

Upon hearing the news, Price’s friend suggested they participate in the LLS’s annual fund-raiser. They formed two teams of five each. About five months later, Trevor died at the age of 12.

And while Price — who lives in unincorporated King County outside of Redmond — may not have a loved one who could benefit from his participation in the event, he has continued making the annual climb up to the top of the Columbia Tower, Seattle’s tallest skyscraper at 69 flights of stairs, 1,311 steps and 788 feet of vertical elevation. In 2004, Price took the lead in organizing the Project Trevor team for the Big Climb, bringing in 115 individuals to participate alongside him. Since then, Project Trevor has had an average of 70-80 people participating in the Big Climb in honor of the team’s namesake. Project Trevor also has bright orange shirts with a photo of Trevor printed on it and a quote from him while he was in the hospital asking whether leukemia is life threatening.

This year’s Big Climb was last Sunday and Project Trevor had 78 climbers participating. Price said this year they raised about $26,000 and placed fourth overall out of all the teams for the amount they raised. Last year, Project Trevor raised about $25,000 and placed first. In the team’s 12 years of participating in the Big Climb, Price said they have raised about $150,000 for the LLS.

Price said members of Project Trevor are a combination of individuals who have been with them year after year and newcomers to the group, but it is always amazing to see how much support they receive every year.

“The sea of orange,” he said, “it says a lot.”

Money raised from the Big Climb goes toward blood cancer research as well as services for local patients with blood cancer.

Anne Gillingham, executive director LLS’s Washington and Alaska chapter, said some of the services they provide for patients include patient support groups and financial aid — anything to help people deal with their diagnosis.

Gillingham said there is no screening or prevention for blood-related cancers so the LLS works aggressively to recruit and retain top researchers to work on finding a cure. She said currently LLS is funding six researchers locally: Five are at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and one is at the University of Washington Medical Center.

This year’s climb has brought in more than $1.6 million but Gillingham said donations are still coming in, so they are confident they will reach their goal of raising $1.7 million. LLS will continue collecting donations through April 6.

The climb has been around for almost 30 years and Gillingham said in that time the fund-raiser has brought in “well over $20 million.” She added that the local chapter’s various fund-raisers bring in about $8 million each year so the Big Climb is a large portion of that. LLS also holds benefit walks and runs and more traditional fund-raisers throughout the year.

Gillingham said the novelty of climbing Seattle’s tallest building was what initially brought interest to the event but over the years, as people learned more about the Big Climb, it has become more popular — with a cap at 6,000 and often filling up several weeks before the big day. Gillingham said the climb has also become about the fund-raising than the physical challenge.

Price agreed.

“To me, it’s continuing a legacy,” Price said about his continued participation in the climb. “(Trevor) was a pretty amazing young man.”

Price added that if Trevor had survived, his son would have taken over as a team captain for the event.