Tribute to Stacey Li Collver

by Felix Wong | 16 Feb 2004

This page is dedicated to my friend Stacey Li Collver, who last year was diagnosed with the extremely rare and dangerous lung disease called lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), and is currently on a waiting list for a lung transplant.

I first met Stacey back in 1998, when my friend Loren brought me over to Twisters Climbing Gym in Mountain View, where Stacey was the manager. We became good friends and throughout the years I have enjoyed numerous events hosted by Stacey at the gym. Many of the good friends I have today (and even some people I have dated) are people I met through Stacey, something I will be forever indebted to her for.

She has also been an inspiration to me long before she had LAM, be it due to her climbing ability (despite her 4’10” stature, she was way outclimbing me!), willingness to take on massive projects like painting the entire gym at Twisters, dedication to fundraising for worthwhile charities, etc.

Today, while she awaits her transplant, she amazes me with her courage, optimism, and clear-headedness. To me, she is a model of how to conduct oneself in the face of adversity. In particular, instead of succumbing to depression or self-pity, she focuses her energy on taking constructive steps to put her in the best position to survive this ordeal. She understands the enormity of what she is up against, and yet, she is absolutely convinced she will make it through. Knowing her, I’d bet she will too.

This is not to say everything is completely rosy. There are not only mounting medical bills to pay, but also just the cost of daily living, now that she is unable to work while she awaits a new lung. And everyone, even someone as strong as Stacey, can benefit from emotional support and encouragement. To that end, her friends have set up a foundation for her, http://windsongfoundation.org, “wind song” being the translation for her Taiwanese middle name. Please visit that page and consider dropping her a line and/or offering financial support. It would be much appreciated and I assure you it is a very worthy cause.

For more info, see the newspaper articles below.

Articles about Stacey

• Mountain View Voice:Scaling Everest for ailing coach(December 12, 2003 Fri)
• San Jose Mercury News:Rock climber undaunted by rare, dangerous illness(December 10, 2003 Wed)
• San Jose Mercury News:Transcending illness with strength, will(December 11, 2003 Thu)

Photos of Stacey

• At Indian Rock(Mar 31’02 Sun)
• At the “Wind” Bouldering Comp at City Beach (November 8, 2003 Sat)
• At the Cranberry Crank Climbing Comp at Planet Granite(November 15, 2003 Sat)

Postscripts

May 8, 2004

I did a 40-mile run to raise funds for Stacey. Thanks to the generosity of many of you out there, over $2000 were raised for her. It helped her get through a rough time.

June 28, 2007

Every time I’ve come down to CA, I have been amazed at how well Stacey has been doing both physically and emotionally. With her new pair of lungs (2005) she’s been completely off oxygen for a couple years now, and yesterday, she managed to go for a run with me (well, I ran, she biked) at 7:00/mile pace, or 9 mph, for a couple of miles before fading back. She may not be up to her pre-LAM levels aerobically, but we also rock climbed and played badminton, and let me tell her she beat me at both (and yes, I was really trying!) Amazing.

January 1, 2013

Stacey roped me into a challenge where both of us successfully did 2013 push-ups on New Year’s Day

!

I posted archives of Stacey’s journey at WindSongJournal.com. Her Chinese name means “Wind Song,” thus the name of the journal.

July 2016

Stacey is now on Year 12 with her transplanted lungs, which is really amazing considering that half of all lung transplant recipients do not make it past Year 5.

However, as of the last couple years, her lung capacity is really low again (like 27%) and she is on the waiting list for a second lung transplant. She is on oxygen all the time now. I really hope a second transplant can happen pretty soon.

I don’t know if you have heard but Stacey was featured on American Ninja Warrior recently. Her former climbing protégé, Josh Levin, is competing and had the top score in the Los Angeles Finals. He now moves on to the overall ANW finals in Las Vegas.

His amazing L.A. Finals run, and how he is doing this partly for Stacey, is shown in this American Ninja Warrior episode starting at 1:10:43.