FOR A GOOD CAUSE:Each step adds $1 to cancer research

Brent Jacobsen is not simply looking for another challenge as he prepares to tackle Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa.

The Newport Beach business developer is attempting to raise $1 for each foot of the 19,340-foot inactive volcano he climbs, with the money going to fund breast cancer research.

With a week-and-a-half to go before he departs for Tanzania, Jacobsen is about $4,000 short of his objective.

“If I am going to climb it anyway, it’s even better if I can also raise funds,” he said.

Jacobsen, 48, is one of about 70 climbers participating in the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center’s Climb to Fight Breast Cancer. Others will take on Washington’s Mt. Baker, Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams, Oregon’s Mt. Hood and Russia’s Mt. Elbrus.

Jacobsen’s $19,340 goal is almost twice the $10,000 he and other Kilimanjaro climbers committed to raise, in addition to what they spend on airfare and equipment.

“My goal is quite a bit higher because this cause has a lot of meaning for me,” he said. “I had a very dear aunt who died of breast cancer five years ago, and I know how many lives it affects.”

The campaign, now in its 10th year, is set to raise more than $600,000 to be used for pilot studies related to the prevention, detection and treatment of breast cancer, which is expected to claim 40,910 lives in 2007, according to the American Cancer Society.

“It typically takes between $25,000 and $50,000 to fund one pilot study,” Jacobsen said. “I’d be really thrilled if, through my efforts, I could raise enough to fund one study.”

A Utah native, Jacobsen has long been a fan of the great outdoors, and when his career took him to Colorado in the mid ‘90s, he started climbing the state’s famed “fourteeners” — mountains that exceed 14,000 feet.

Last year, he initiated every mountaineer’s supreme ambition of climbing the Seven Summits, the highest mountains on each continent. Mt. Kilimanjaro marks his third, and his first trip to Africa.

“I just keep looking for greater and greater challenges,” Jacobsen said, adding that he is not at all nervous.

“It’s also about spiritual renewal, seeing new places and meeting new people, and I can’t wait to look out over the entire continent from what they call the ‘Roof of Africa.’ ”

One thing he is not eager to experience is the weather, which he expects to drop to zero degrees.

Though he won’t be toting a rabbit’s foot or a lucky coin, Jacobsen plans to bring a Tibetan prayer flag adorned with the names of breast cancer victims and those currently battling the disease.

He invites community members to contact him at mr.7summits@hotmail.com if they would like to place a name on the flag.

To learn more about the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the Mt. Kilimanjaro climb, go to www.fhcrc.org/climb . To sponsor Brent Jacobsen, visit the site and click “Support a Climber.”