$14,410 at 14,410 feet

If all goes well, Newport Beach moms Mindy Cameron and Debra Miller will wake up about 1 a.m. Sunday at Camp Muir, about 10,000 feet above sea level on the southeastern flank of Mt. Rainier just outside Seattle, to climb another 4,000 feet through snow fields and over icy crevasses in total darkness.

The mountaineers climb before dawn while the ice and snow is still firm and cold.

“They say that you would never do it if you saw what you were climbing over,” Miller said.

Only about 50% of climbers who attempt to summit Mt. Rainier make it. An average of three climbers die each year on the mountain.

Cameron and Miller are making the climb because it’s something their young sons will never be able to do.

“I’ve never done anything like this before, but I’ve never had a son with Duchenne muscular dystrophy before either,” said Cameron, who has been training for the past four months for the climb by hiking with a 40-pound backpack and spending an hour at a time on a stair-climbing machine.

She and Miller, along with 10 other climbers, hope to raise $1 for each foot of their climb, or $14,410 apiece for CureDuchenne, a Newport Beach-based nonprofit that raises money for medical research on Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a terminal genetic disease that strikes young boys and has no cure.

Mindy and Alex Cameron will never forget Jan. 6, 2004 — the day their 2 1/2 -year-old son Christopher was diagnosed with the disease.

“You start out with this beautiful baby with no clue that something so hideous is lurking in his genes,” Cameron said.

Today, Christopher is a shy 8-year-old with blond hair who loves art and video games.

“I would say it’s a global disaster, but you get this beautiful son, too,” Alex Cameron said. “It’s like 20 years of mourning.”

Duchenne muscular dystrophy causes a loss of muscle mass in the young boys it affects.

Most boys diagnosed with the disease lose the ability to walk before they enter their teenage years, and many don’t live to graduate from high school.

“Birthdays are terrible,” Mindy Cameron said.

CureDuchenne raises money to fund medical research to find new treatments for the disease. Miller founded CureDuchenne with her husband, Paul, after their son was diagnosed with the disease in 2002.

“We have to do things like this because our sons don’t live long enough to raise awareness,” Miller said. “We have no Lou Gehrig or Michael J. Fox. We don’t have any rock stars.”

Miller doesn’t want her 12-year-old son’s name published in the newspaper. She’s tried to shield him from how Duchenne affects young boys who carry the disease.

Her son has been one of her biggest cheerleaders as she has trained to climb Mt. Rainier, and will be there to greet her after she descends the mountain, she said.

“He’s starting to use my same encouragement on me,” Miller said. “He’ll say to me ‘Mommy, I know you can do it.’”

Miller spent the last five years working through CureDuchenne to raise money to find new treatments for the disease, before it’s too late.

“It’s amazing the things you’ll do,” Miller said. “If your son was diagnosed with a fatal disease, what would you do?”

How To Help:

For more information on CureDuchenne or to make a donation to the climbing team, visit www.cureduchenne.org

Checks or money orders also may be mailed to

CureDuchenne

3334 East Coast Highway #157

Corona Del Mar, CA 92625

The Corona del Mar Ruby’s Diner, 2305 East Coast Highway, will donate 20% of the price of meals to CureDuchenne through Friday. Visit the CureDuchenne website and click on the Ruby’s Diner logo to print out promotional flier before you dine to participate.

Visit twitter.com/cureduchenne to follow the CureDuchenne team as they climb Mt. Rainier.