I'm a kidney transplant recipient with 60% pulmonary function and a stent in my superior vena cava, which collapsed after two years of dialysis. (No history of heart attack, though.) It was when I was diagnosed as being in pulmonary decline that I started hiking. That year, I attempted Half Dome and had to be rescued by rangers with oxygen about two-thirds of the way up. Two months later I made it to the top, and now five years later, I've done Mt. Whitney thirteen times and Mt. Kilimanjaro once. I'm convinced that I'm still here because of Whitney. Talk to your doctor, and then go for it with all the necessary precautions in place.
