When Rodney Scribner died of bladder cancer in 2005, his nephew Patrick Connolly, then 23, turned to mountain climbing for solace.
The following year, Patrick and a group of fellow mountaineers decided to honor “Rockin’ Rod” by climbing in his name and gathering pledges for the Marshall L. and Susan Gibson Pavilion, the only dedicated inpatient oncology unit of its size in Maine.
Led by Patrick four years in a row, the group’s annual Climb for Cancer Care has raised nearly $100,000. Each year, they have ascended two of the nation’s largest peaks, 11,240 foot Mount Hood in Oregon and 14,410 foot Mount Rainier in Washington.
The money they raise provides amenities to comfort patients and families during their hospital stay, including music, art, educational resources and more.
“I take immense pride in my son and his selfless giving on behalf of people he will never know,” Thomas Connolly writes of Patrick, now a fourth-grade teacher, husband and parent. “With intensity and focus, he and his companions are doing what they can to ease the burden of cancer on others.”
