We summited Half Dome for Robby!
Writer/Director/Actor/Author/Playwright/ Composer/Sound Engineer/University Professor (NYU)
From the time he was young, Robby always paid attention to his health. He often portrayed athletes in his early movies as a basketball player in One on One, a hockey player in Ice Castles, and an olympic gold medalist in Running Brave. So it was quite unexpected when at the age of 62 he was found to have a small growth on his kidney. He initially didn’t pay much attention because it was only 1/2 an inch and he had other serious health concerns with his heart (see his book I’m not dead yet) But the mass grew and he just wanted to get it out! In 2018 he underwent a robotic partial nephrectomy! But his journey with cancer wasn’t straight forward. Due to his heart condition, he takes blood thinners and this led to a post operative, life threatening bleed around the kidney. Fortunately, he recovered from this and he’s now 5 years out from his surgery with no sign of recurrence.
Two people who helped in his journey are his wife, Karla DeVito and his primary care physician Dr. Michael Roizen.
Summit Dedication
As we were trudging up the last 1000 feet of calf burning slabs of the western shoulder of Half Dome, I really wanted to quit. I was sore and tired but I started thinking of the determination of Robby Benson in several movies that he played. Then even more impressed by when he actually faced several health challenges himself and channeled that determination to get to the top.
Climb and Summit Photos, see more at this link
