Cindy Abbott of California, Fighting Rare Disease, Conquers Mount Everest

LOS ANGELES (June 22) -- A California woman with a rare and potentially fatal disease that has already left her partially blind has conquered Mount Everest in an expedition aimed at drawing attention to rare vascular ailments like hers.

Cindy Abbott, 51, of Irvine, suffers from Wegener's granulomatosis, in which inflammation of the blood vessels restricts flow to such vital organs as the kidneys and lungs. The disease affects fewer than 1 in 20,000 people. The cause is unknown, and the effects are potentially deadly, though most sufferers survive with early diagnosis and treatment.

Abbott, who has maintained a blog about her Everest climb, has already suffered some loss of vision and a series of mini-strokes. But that didn't keep her from scaling the highest mountain on earth last month -- the same day that 13-year-old Jordan Romero from Big Bear Lake, Calif., became the youngest person to reach the peak. Coincidentally, Abbott was one of six climbers from Orange County to summit Mount Everest within a span of a few days.

Bill Allen via Los Angeles Times / MCT

Cindy Abbott, a 51-year-old California woman with a rare vascular disease, conquered Mount Everest. Here, Abbott displays her National Organization for Rare Disorders banner before leaving for the summit of Everest.

Abbott used her attempt to raise awareness and money for the Vasculitis Foundation, which supports research and patients suffering from a wide range of vascular diseases, including Wegener's granulomatosis.

The climb was "the most difficult thing I have ever done," Abbott said. She suffered cold damage to her fingertips but otherwise returned in good health. Her feat was the focus of a recent story on ABC News, which had exclusive access to Abbott during the climb. And other team members regularly updated a separate blog about the effort, including pictures.

A longtime adventurer, Abbott had been planning to climb Mount Everest before she was diagnosed, and she decided to make the effort anyway.

"After years of training, spending six weeks on the mountain going up and down getting my body adjusted to the altitude, and the actual summit climb, I still find it difficult to believe I did it," Abbott told the Los Angeles Times. "It was very difficult on many levels -- physical, mental and emotional."