Researcher with incurable cancer prepares for Everest
Dr Shaunna Burke, an exercise psychologist in the Faculty of Biological Sciences at the University of Leeds, is preparing to attempt Mount Everest in a landmark expedition.
After dedicating her career to researching how exercise can be used in cancer treatment, Dr Burke was diagnosed with incurable, stage four breast cancer in 2024. Creating a personalised diet and exercise plan for herself, she ran to chemotherapy and radiotherapy appointments to maintain her fitness and mental health during cancer treatment. She will set off for Kathmandu on 13 April.
Mountaineering taught me life is fragile; cancer taught me to keep climbing — back into life, fully and with possibility.
Dr Shaunna Burke, Faculty of Biological Sciences
It will be the third visit to the mountain for Dr Burke, who summited the peak in 2005, and then completed the Everest Marathon in June 2025.
Not only is the forthcoming expedition a personal challenge for Dr Burke, but it is also a research project, a fundraiser for Macmillan Cancer Support, and the subject of an independent film titled Dying to Climb.
Dr Burke said: “I’m not just climbing a mountain — I’m climbing to inspire, to support research, and to raise funds that can change lives. Mountaineering taught me life is fragile; cancer taught me to keep climbing — back into life, fully and with possibility.”
In preparation for Everest, she will be accompanied by Dr Barney Wainwright, an Applied Sports Scientist at Leeds Beckett University, experienced mountaineer and expert in high altitude training, who will be monitoring the impact of the challenge on Dr Burke’s body, including her immune function and cancer markers.
Monitored by Dr Wainwright, she has been training in the altitude chamber at Leeds Beckett’s Carnegie School of Sport, walking on a treadmill with a weighted rucksack to simulate the demands of climbing above 4,000 metres. This is helping to prepare her for the exertions of the challenge as well as providing data on how her body is adapting to low oxygen levels. Already the team has uncovered a potential long-term effect from previous chemotherapy which only became visible under oxygen deprivation.
Dr Wainwright said: “Our team has created a 12-week pre-expedition acclimatisation strategy to ensure that Shaunna has adapted to the reduced availability of oxygen on Everest.
“The sessions, often up to an equivalent of 6,000m, that she has completed both in our environmental chambers and at home using an altitude generator, creates the stimulus for the body to create specific physiological changes that will both help Shaunna’s body extract oxygen from the air more efficiently and protect against high altitude illnesses.”
Joining the team will be anaesthetist and high-altitude expert Dr Patrycja Jonetzko, who has provided medical support for a number of mountain expeditions, as well as camera operator and director Ben Ayers from the makers of the Dying to Climb documentary, Rainshadow Films.
‘Awe-inspiring’
The expedition begins on 16 April with the team’s ascent of Mera Peak, a 6,400-metre mountain where the research testing will be conducted. This stage will also allow Shaunna to be closely monitored as she acclimatises to high altitude.
On April 30 Dr Burke will say goodbye to her team and progress to Everest Base Camp at 5,364 metres with her climbing Sherpas.
She will be joined by a group of friends/trekkers at base camp, where a traditional Hindu Puja ceremony of devotion and worship will take place before she begins rotations – climbing up and down to Camp 2 and Camp 3 - to acclimatise to altitude. There, she awaits a suitable weather window for the summit push.
Everest’s peak is 8,849m above sea level, the highest point on earth. Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first people to reach the summit on 29 May, 1953.
Dr Burke said: “Standing on the summit of Everest is awe-inspiring — you can see the curvature of the Earth. But it’s also terrifying, because the climb isn’t over. Most accidents happen on the way down, where you’re exposed to extreme weather and even hallucinations at altitude.”
So far, Dr Burke has raised almost £25,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support through this project alone. Follow her progress on Instagram and LinkedIn.
Further information
Top images: Dr Shaunna Burke on the Everest Marathon and on the treadmill in Leeds Beckett University's altitude chamber
Email media enquiries to the University of Leeds press office via pressoffice@leeds.ac.uk
For enquiries for Leeds Beckett press office or Dr Barney Wainwright, please contact pressoffice@leedsbeckett.ac.uk
