text: For most people, climbing Africa's tallest mountain is an impossible achievement. But how about doing it without legs? 
   
   For Spencer West, nothing is impossible. Or as he would put it: everything is possible. 
   
   Nearly all of the 31-year-old American's life has proven the doctors wrong. When they amputated both of his legs right below the pelvis when he was 5, they warned that he would never be a functioning member of society. But West has led not only led a life that is remarkably normal compared to his doctors' prognosis – he has accomplished feats that, by any measure, are extraordinary. 
   
   Nothing is more extraordinary than his latest accomplishment: taking 20,000 "steps" to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya. Elevation: 19,300 feet. He climbed 80 percent of it on his hands – propelling his torso forward, one hand after another, along the trail for eight days. In a conversation with ABC News on the phone after he descended, his voice sounded strong – but he admitted his arms were a little sore and his hands a little cut up and bruised. 
   
   "It's literally climbing the largest mountain on Africa on your hands," he said. "I don't know if it can get much more challenging than that." 
   
   West hopes that people who hear about his accomplishment will be inspired to believe that nothing is impossible. Or, as he puts it, he hopes that people will "redefine their own possible." 
   
   "To use myself as an example – that if I enter life without legs and climb the largest mountain in Africa and overcome that challenge, what more can you do in your daily lives to define what's possible for you?" he asked. "We all have the ability to redefine what is possible -- whether you're missing your legs or not. Everyone has challenges and challenges can be overcome." 
   
   Even before Kilimanjaro, West had already overcome so much. He was born with a genetic disorder called sacral agenesis, which left his legs permanently crossed and his spine underdeveloped. He had two operations as a baby; the second cut off his legs for good. 
   
   But he says his parents instilled him with confidence that he could do anything he wanted, and that has given him the "strong backbone" that he was born without. 
   
   "From the day I was born they treated me just like everyone else, and they wanted me to have the same dreams and aspirations as everyone else did," he said. "I've just always seem myself as a regular person. I've never seen myself as a person without legs. I'm only reminded of that when I'm out in public." 
   
   He graduated from college and landed a well-paying job as an operations manager for a salon and spa. He drove a specially designed car that he could control with his hands, owned a house, and had a good life. But it took a trip to Kenya with the charity Free the Children to help him realize that he wasn't happy. 
   
   He realized he wanted to do more from his life and returned to Kenya a second time. There, he remembers being confronted by a little girl. "She said to me, 'I didn't know white people had conditions like yours.'" He realized that his life might be an inspiration for others. 
   
   "I wanted a job that not only paid well, but made the world a little bit of a better place," he said today by phone. "That's what I found in Kenya – not only how to use my story as a career, but then how to use that to give back to these incredible people that have given me so much. And that is wasn't really so much about material possessions, but actually helping others that made me happy." 
   
   He became a motivational speaker for the organization Me to We, founded by the same people as Free the Children, and started encouraging audiences to overcome their challenges. He decided the climb Kilimanjaro to raise $750,000 for the Kenyans who had "helped me find my passion," he said. 
   
   The money would build three boreholes and provide clean water to hundreds of thousands for those who have been struggling from Africa's worst drought in 60 years. In Kenya and the surrounding countries, the drought has poisoned millions of Africans' clean drinking water and killed off livestock that was once their sole source of income. Increasingly, children are being forced to work at home instead of go to school. 
   
   It took West and his two best friends one year to train to climb Africa's tallest peak. 
   
   The day he saw the peak, he says, will be one of the most memorable of his life. 
   
   "The moment the summit was within sight was incredible," he wrote on his blog during the ascent. "After seven grueling days of relentless climbing, after 20,000 feet of our blood, sweat and tears (and, let's face it, vomit) we had actually made it. We were at the top. The summit sign seemed almost like a mirage." 
   
   But it was not a mirage, and West redefined what was possible for him – and, he hopes, for anyone who comes across his story. 
   
   "Small things like learning to swim, or learning to drive standard for the first time, or maybe even it's taking an hour and reading to their kids," he said. "Small little steps to redefine what's possible in their own lives as well, as I've done with mine." ||||| Minnesota Historical SocietyArchive-It Partner Since: Feb, 2006Organization Type: State Archives & LibrariesOrganization URL: http://www.mnhs.org The Minnesota Historical Society is a non-profit educational and cultural institution established in 1849. The Minnesota Historical Society uses Archive-It to capture and preserve Minnesota news and journalism on the web for future generations. This project was funded in FY10, FY11, and FY12 by a grant from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage fund. ||||| Spencer West lost his legs when he was 5. The Toronto-based 31-year-old reached the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro at 11:15 a.m. Monday. 
   
   Spencer West Spencer West lost his legs when he was 5. The Toronto-based 31-year-old reached the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro at 11:15 a.m. Monday. 
   
   Liam Casey 
   
   Staff Reporter 
   
   
   
   Spencer West woke up at 4:30 a.m. Monday to begin climbing toward the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro. He moved steadily, but slowly, hand over hand along the rocky path. Near exhaustion, he reached the top at 11:15 a.m. and collapsed. 
   
   Unlike other mountains, such as the deadly Mt. Everest, which must be climbed, the 5,895-metre-high Tanzanian mountain can be hiked. And, unlike other hikers, West reached the summit without legs. 
   
   “It was bittersweet and incredible to finally make it after all the hardships we went through to get there,” said West, 31, on a satellite phone from Kibo Hut, about 1,000 metres from the summit. “I would say it was humbling, beautifully overwhelming.” 
   
   The trek took seven days, taking the Toronto-based West and his best friends, David Johnson and Alex Meers, through various microclimates that included jungles, snowfields and a desolate stretch known as the lunar desert. 
   
   West said he was on his hands for about 80 per cent of the trek, leaving them beat up, despite a pair of gloves. 
   
   When the terrain allowed, West hopped in his custom-made wheelchair. When desperate, he hopped on the back of porters. The team consisted of 50 people, many of them porters, plus Paul DeAngelis, who owns Mountain Climbing Adventures in Oakville, and two videographers documenting the trip. 
   
   West was born with sacral agenesis, a birth defect that left his lower spine poorly developed and his legs permanently crossed, as if he was seated. Doctors recommended amputation, and took off his legs at the knees when he was only 3 years old. He needed further surgery at 5, which is when his legs were amputated below his pelvis. 
   
   “Doctors told us when he was a baby that he would never do much with his life,” said his mother, Tonette, from Wyoming, where West grew up. “They said he should stick to activities like reading and writing.” 
   
   But West’s parents didn’t let that sort of talk filter down to their boy. That, coupled with a strong stubborn streak he inherited from his father, allowed him to flourish. He moves his 2-foot-7 body with ease, using his hands as feet. 
   
   He and his friends trained with a personal trainer for a year, climbing hills around Toronto and working on strength and core conditioning at the YMCA. 
   
   The reason for the trip is two-fold. One, to inspire others to achieve the impossible, a campaign called Redefine Possible. Two, he is trying to raise $750,000 — he’s raised $500,000 already — to build a clean water program for nearly 20,000 Kenyans with Free the Children. 
   
   Despite the placid terrain compared to other climbing meccas such as Everest, which took the life of Shriya Shah-Klorfine, of Toronto, last month, Kilimanjaro remains deadly. About 10 trekkers die each year on the mountain and 1,000 need to be evacuated annually. 
   
   Up to 35,000 people try to climb Kilimanjaro each year, but only half reach the summit. Much of the danger is due to altitude sickness, a slight case of which befell West’s two friends who suffered terrible headaches, nausea and fatigue. West was fine, albeit drained. 
   
   But with medicine and rest, the duo recovered to push on the next day. 
   
   “We were nervous we wouldn’t make it to the top, especially after my friends got sick,” said West, who is also a motivational speaker with Me to We. “But that’s why the three of us came, to help each other. 
   
   “We leaned on each, literally, to get to the top.”
target: – Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro's 19,300 feet is tough enough for most people. But Spencer West just spent seven days climbing to the top on his hands, reports ABC News. West, who lost both his legs when he was 5 years old, estimates he did 80% of the climb on his own, taking about 20,000 "steps" to make it to the top. (He used a wheelchair on easier terrain, and was carried over the few patches that were too tough, notes the Toronto Star.) "It's literally climbing the largest mountain on Africa on your hands," he said. "I don't know if it can get much more challenging than that." Born with a genetic disorder called sacral agenesis, doctors amputated West's legs below the pelvis when he was 5, but he credits his parents with treating him normally and giving him the confidence to tackle any obstacle. West spent a year training for the climb, made to raise $750,000 for Free the Children's clean water program in Kenya (he's raised $500,000 so far). "We all have the ability to redefine what is possible—whether you're missing your legs or not," said West. "Everyone has challenges and challenges can be overcome."