Fort Benton alumna trekking to Mt. Everest Base Camp, supporting fight against ovarian cancer

February 22, 2023

This spring, Fort Benton High School alumna Cheryl (Singer) Tope will be one of 20 ovarian cancer survivors, medical providers and caregivers to trek up to Mount Everest Base Camp with the goal of raising money for ovarian cancer research and spreading awareness about the disease and the importance of early detection.

Tope will be accompanied by her daughter Haley Craig and her oncologist, Dr. Joanie Mayer Hope, among others.

Hope created Let Every Woman Know - Alaska (LEWK), a non- profit organization dedicated to raising awareness about gynecologic cancers throughout the state. Hope also started the Any Mountain Project (AMP), which is orchestrating the Mount Everest trek.

Since 2015, Tope has been diagnosed with metastatic fallopian tube cancer eight times and is a victim of the BRCA gene, a hereditary genetic mutation passed down from her mother. Tope’s son and daughter also carry the gene mutation.

When Tope was an 8th grader, she and her family moved to Fort Benton from Jordan, Montana. Her father became the school music teacher for 18 years.

She graduated from FBHS in 1972 and attended Montana State University. During this time, she met her future husband, Billy Tope. Billy and his brother moved to Alaska for work in 1976; Cheryl visited for a holiday trip and decided to stay.

Her mother, Idella Singer, turned 100 years old last year and still resides in Fort Benton. Singer is also an ovarian cancer survivor.

Tope worked for Alaska Airlines for 29 years, before she chose to work in customs at Anchorage International Airport. She also worked with border patrol, traveling to the northern and southern borders.

Hiking and climbing on Alaska’s mountains has prepared Tope and Craig for the trek to Mount Everest Base Camp.

“We’ve been getting dumped on with snow, but the trails on Mount Everest will be free of snow and will be dusty,” Tope said. “Jess informed us we’d have to wear scarves when a yak walks by and kicks up the dust.”

Tope and Craig have thoroughly researched what equipment to bring and are fortunate to have accomplished mountain guides leading them.

Hope approached Tope about accompanying her on the trek.

Craig was eager to join her mother alongside the AMP Everest crew.

“She said, ‘Anything you do, anything you want to do, I’m right behind you,’” Tope said.

The biggest hurdle Tope, Craig and their team will face is the altitude, acclimating along the climb with stays at little village tea houses.

“We’ll walk like turtles,” Tope said. “One foot in front of the other.”

The journey will start April 1 with the group of 20 departing from the U.S. for Asia.

On April 5, they will begin their 10-day hike to Base Camp, reaching an altitude around 17,600 feet.

When they reach Base Camp, the group will split, with 18 flying back to Kathmandu, Nepal via helicopter; Wedel and Kepner will continue the journey, determined to become the first ovarian cancer survivors ever to summit Mount Everest.

Tope is extremely grateful for the Fort Benton community - especially the FBHS Class of ‘72 - for sharing their support for her, her daughter, and for the daring mission she and 19 others will accomplish. Many of her classmates have already contributed to her fundraising site.

Donations to the Any Mountain Project can be made at anymountainsong.com. The hikers have created smaller “teams” within their group, each with a personal donation goal. Tope and Craig’s team has raised almost $14,400 with a goal of $20,000.

All donations will go toward research into early detection and prevention of ovarian cancer to save countless lives.

Known as “the rooftop of the world,” Mount Everest stands at over 29,000 feet, so AMP set a goal of raising $2.9 million for ovarian cancer prevention and early detection research.

Ovarian cancer is the deadliest women’s cancer and currently has no early detection tests or universal means of prevention, according to the AMP website.

The Everest Base Camp hiking party will support two climbers, Jess Wedel and Mary Beth Kepner, preparing to be the first ovarian cancer survivors to summit Mt. Everest.

Since 2015, Tope has been diagnosed with metastatic fallopian tube cancer eight times and is a victim of the BRCA gene, a hereditary genetic mutation passed down from her mother. Tope’s son and daughter also carry the gene mutation.

When Tope was an 8th grader, she and her family moved to Fort

Benton from Jordan, Montana. Her father became the school music teacher for 18 years.

She graduated from FBHS in 1972 and attended Montana State University. During this time, she met her future husband, Billy Tope. Billy and his brother moved to Alaska for work in 1976; Cheryl visited for a holiday trip and decided to stay.

Her mother, Idella Singer, turned 100 years old last year and still resides in Fort Benton. Singer is also an ovarian cancer survivor.

Tope worked for Alaska Airlines for 29 years, before she chose to work in customs at Anchorage International Airport. She also worked with border patrol, traveling to the northern and southern borders.

Hiking and climbing on Alaska’s mountains has prepared Tope and Craig for the trek to Mount Everest Base Camp.

“We’ve been getting dumped on with snow, but the trails on Mount Everest will be free of snow and will be dusty,” Tope said. “Jess informed us we’d have to wear scarves when a yak walks by and kicks up the dust.”

Tope and Craig have thoroughly researched what equipment to bring and are fortunate to have accomplished mountain guides leading them.

Hope approached Tope about accompanying her on the trek.

“I told my husband about it and he said, ‘You would be a fool to turn this down!’” Tope said.

Craig was eager to join her mother alongside the AMP Everest crew.

“She said, ‘Anything you do, anything you want to do, I’m right behind you,’” Tope said.

The biggest hurdle Tope, Craig and their team will face is the altitude, acclimating along the climb with stays at little village tea houses.

“We’ll walk like turtles,” Tope said. “One foot in front of the other.”

The journey will start April 1 with the group of 20 departing from the U.S. for Asia.

On April 5, they will begin their 10-day hike to Base Camp, reaching an altitude around 17,600 feet.

When they reach Base Camp, the group will split, with 18 flying back to Kathmandu, Nepal via helicopter; Wedel and Kepner will continue the journey, determined to become the first ovarian cancer survivors ever to summit Mount Everest.

Tope is extremely grateful for the Fort Benton community - especially the FBHS Class of ‘72 - for sharing their support for her, her daughter, and for the daring mission she and 19 others will accomplish. Many of her classmates have already contributed to her fundraising site.

Donations to the Any Mountain Project can be made at anymountainsong.com. The hikers have created smaller “teams” within their group, each with a personal donation goal. Tope and Craig’s team has raised almost $14,400 with a goal of $20,000.

All donations will go toward research into early detection and prevention of ovarian cancer to save countless lives.