'The World Triathalon': Charlie Wittmack, a Lawyer From Des Moines, Risks It All to Save Lives

July 16, 2011 — -- Last year, a seemingly impossible dream took Charlie Wittmack, a trial lawyer from Des Moines, Iowa, to the world's highest peaks, leaving his family and comfortable Iowa life behind in an effort to save the lives of women and children in Nepal.

"I guess this started 15 years ago, when I started thinking: What could be the world's toughest triathlon?" Wittmack said.

He conjured up what he calls "The World Triathlon" -- an odyssey that includes swimming across the English Channel, cycling from France to Nepal, and climbing to the top of Mount Everest.

Before even attempting The World Tri, Wittmack first tested out the toughest part of the journey, climbing Mount Everest in 2003. What he learned along the way changed the course of his dream.

A good friend from Nepal had helped to arrange the climb

"He almost lost his first child shortly after birth and that really opened my eyes," Wittmack told ABC News. "Unfortunately, in Nepal and many places in the world, so many families lose children and mothers to preventable causes -- often just for lack of very basic health care."

So he decided to use "The World Tri" to draw attention, and money, to saving the lives of women and children in Nepal.

To make the dream a reality, Wittmack and his wife, Cate, spent their life savings, sold their house and car, and took out a $100,000 loan. A Toyota dealer and a hospital in Des Moines kicked in several thousand dollars, but Wittmack lacked major sponsorship. To top it off, Wittmack purchased a $2.5 million life insurance plan in case the journey killed him.

Beginning the Journey

Last summer, Wittmack started at the source of the River Thames in England and swam his way across the English Channel. On the other side, in France, he boarded a bicycle and rode across 13 countries to Nepal, where he began the climb to the summit of Mount Everest.

Wittmack said the feat wasn't just about his personal dream. What he really wanted was to help reduce maternal and child mortality in Nepal. Each year, 37,000 newborns and young children die from preventable causes in Nepal, nearly seven times the 5,393 people who have ever made it to the top of Mount Everest.

Wittmack hopes that attention from the stunt will help raise at least $300,000, enough to support 1,000 community health workers in Nepal working with the international organization Save the Children. Those 1,000 community health workers reach hundreds of thousands of mothers, newborns and children with lifesaving care.

The journey was no cakewalk. Along the way he was diagnosed with amoebic dysentery, pulmonary anemia, cerebral anemia, hit by a car in Kazakhstan and lost vision in his right eye.

Reaching the Summit

However, upon arriving at the summit of Mount Everest, 29,035 feet in the air, this time with a mission, Wittmack was rewarded for the odyssey that had pushed his body to the limit.

"It was a crystal clear day, not very much wind ... not like the last time I made it to the summit," Wittmack told ABC News. "The conditions couldn't have been better."

He spent 45 minutes at the top of the world with just two things to keep him occupied: a Rubik's cube and a flag from Save the Children. They were symbols of how basic solutions for children's health already exist. Atop Mt. Everest, with a bird's eye view of the world, Wittmack solved the Rubik's cube and let the flag out to wave.

"I understand how blessed we are as Americans, and we have a responsibility to do what we can to help," Wittmack told ABC News. "The next few years will be the real test, to see if this journey does what it was supposed to, which is to save lives."

"Charlie is an inspiration in many ways," Mary Beth Powers of Save the Children told ABC News. "But he'll be the first to tell you, you don't have to be a world-class athlete to be a champion for children. Every person who decides to take action to save children's lives is a true hero."

Watch the full half hour of Charlie's story on ESPN2 Sunday at 9 am ET, and throughout the week on ESPN a part of the series "Outside the Lines". ESPN has also created a microsite devoted to Charlie's story.

Follow Charlie Wittmack at SavetheChildren.

For more information go to SaveOne.net.