Bonner Paddock, 32, has cerebral palsy and problems with balance but has always been driven to show doubters what he can do.
Paddock plans to climb the 19,341-foot tall Mount Kilimanjaro in August, "just to show that I can," he says in the Orange County Register.
The OC Register says that "his desire to get to the top is rooted in all times he fell. If Paddock had believed what doctors told him, he should have been in a wheelchair at age 15, dead at 20."
Paddock began training to climb Mount Kilimanjaro last winter with a goal to raise $250,000 to help launch the United Cerebral Palsy OC's Early Childhood Learning Center.
His only worry about the climb is the last leg because it will be at night and the dark weakens his ability to find his balance.
"Maybe I'll rope myself to one of the guides," he says. "I'll find my way up there somehow. I've come this far."