Isabella de la Houssaye raised her five children on adventure. Then came a brutal diagnosis, and a burning desire for a final journey with each one.
By Rebecca Byerly/Photographs by Max Whittaker | The New York Times
ACONCAGUA PROVINCIAL PARK, Argentina — Isabella de la Houssaye and her daughter, Bella, struggled to breathe in the thin air of the high Andes as they trudged up a zigzag trail to the top of Aconcagua, the highest summit outside the Himalayas.
At an elevation of about 22,840 feet, it is often called “the roof of the Americas.” At this height, breathing is difficult and the risk of debilitating, even fatal, altitude sickness is a reality even for the strongest climbers.
Isabella has Stage 4 lung cancer, which makes breathing especially hard.
