A Fountain Springs woman who planned to climb 50 flights of stairs during the American Lung Association's Fight for Air Climb last weekend beat her goal and raised $2,010 thanks to donations from people of Schuylkill County.
Tiffany Kiehl said Thursday that she finished the March 29 challenge at Three Logan Square in Philadelphia in 11 minutes and 45 seconds, placing 288th out of 702 climbers, when she originally hoped to finish in under 12 minutes.
"It was hard," Kiehl said. "Extremely hard."
According to the event website, the Fight for Air Climb is more than a walk or a run. It's a vertical, "unique challenge" to climb 50 flights of stairs, or 1,088 steps, to reach the finish line.
The event raises money in the fight against lung disease, lung cancer, asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and air pollution.
Kiehl previously said that what inspired her to participate in the event for the first time was that she had "a best friend who got a lung transplant" and her "grandmother is suffering from COPD stage 4."
Injured in October and spending four months not being able to walk, she thought the event would be "a challenge to get back into things" and for a good cause.
"While I was doing it, it made me respect the firefighters and police because the firefighters did it ahead of me with full gear on," Kiehl said. "It was hard, not physically because I was trained, but the whole lung and breathing issue was something you can't describe. When I reached floor 35, I realized the struggle of what it feels like for people that can't breathe."
Her other goal was to raise $200 and she ended up raising $2,010, making her the sixth-highest fundraiser out of all participants.
In addition to receiving donations online, she also received some in the mail.
"Without the support of everyone around me, I wouldn't have been able to do that," Kiehl said. "It was definitely an experience. I coughed for two hours after it."
She also plans to participate again next year.
Donations for the event and the American Lung Association are also still being accepted until April 15, either to the website or to Kiehl directly.
To donate, visit www.fightforairclimb.org, click on "Donate" then search for "Tiffany Kiehl."
She has been able to accept donations by personal check that can be made to the "American Lung Association"
To contact Kiehl about donating, call 570-933-4443.