Longtime Baltimore Ravens great Ray Lewis was forced to stop a climb up Mount Kilimanjaro this week because of foot swelling and fever. Injuries from his football playing days also might have been a factor.
Lewis had been planning for several months to climb the mountain to raise money and awareness for clean water projects in East Africa.
TackleKili, the charitable organization Lewis was climbing for, released a statement on the situation.
“[Ray's] fever spiked and his foot, which had been injured and re-injured during his 17 year career, began to swell. This was not good,” the statement said. “In the end, Ray’s decision was to let the team move on without him, rather than hold them back or put himself in a position where an injury which requires surgery could become even more complicated.”
Lewis won’t be climbing the mountain, although the team he was with will continue to the top and are expected to reach the summit of Kilimanjaro on Sunday.
To read an earlier story about Ray Lewis’s plans for the climb Click Here
