Joyce Azzam
Joyce Azzam (Arabic: جويس عزام) is a Lebanese elite mountaineer born on June 24, 1984. Azzam holds the record of being the only Lebanese woman to complete the Seven Summits Challenge . She graduated with a Ph.D. in landscape and environment from the Sapienza University of Rome. Azzam now runs an NGO called MounTurtle. She is the first Lebanese woman and one of the few Arab women to complete and raise the Lebanese flag on top of the Seven Summits after reaching the top Everest in May 2019. Biography Joyce Azzam was born during the Lebanese Civil War in the capital city of Lebanon, Beirut. She suffers from a chronic lung condition and hypermobility syndrome. Azzam's childhood was very unstable and filled with obstacles. All she can remember is moving from bunker to bunker, continuously living underground. Moreover, she was never into sports due to her medical condition called "hyperlaxity" (joints in the legs are loose and the knees bend backward). She also has a fear from heights, known as Acrophobia. She was always bullied at school because of her disease, but this did not deter her from achieving her goals, so she decided to start running everyday, and adopted