She did it. Fabienne Sicot-Personnic reached the summit of Everest on Thursday, Ascension Day. The challenge taken up by this intensive care nurse at Montpellier University Hospital (Hérault) is all the more admirable since she learned, a few years ago, that she had ankylosing spondylitis and brittle bone disease.
A handicap that did not prevent this formidable 38-year-old sportswoman from reaching the top of the world, after a twelve-hour journey, braving the cold (down to -45°C), snow and ice. But the journey is not over: now, we must go down.
“The Sherpa nicknamed me ‘Faster Lady'”
Interviewed on March 23 by 20 minutes, Fabienne Sicot-Personnic had explained that after learning the pathologies that gnawed at her, rather than putting the pedal to the metal, she multiplied the crazy challenges. “I said to myself that I had to enjoy life, I could no longer live in a dome,” she confided. Last summer, she has already reached seven peaks over 4,000 meters above sea level. She has, in particular, climbed to the summit of Mont-Blanc.
To climb to the top of Everest, she had to perform numerous stress tests on her bike, equipped with a mask that simulates these extreme conditions. “The sherpa who accompanies me nicknamed me “Faster lady” (the fast woman)! she laughed.
Fabienne Sicot-Personnic opened a kitty (here)to collect donations, which will be donated to teams of researchers from Inserm, in Montpellier.