Former Owasco resident and local surgeon Greg Mathew succumbed to a fatal case of altitude sickness but fulfilled a lifelong dream.

Mathew, 61, and his wife, Tammy, had hiked several days in the Himalayas not far from Lhasa, Tibet, when Mathew fell sick the day before a scheduled climb to Mt. Everest. Altitude sickness results when fluid accumulates in the lungs and brain from low oxygen.

“Dad was very interested in monasteries,” his daughter, Stefanie said, “especially very secluded ones. It was a spiritual journey for him.”

Greg, Tammy and Stefanie had attended the Dalai Lama's classes together at the Tibetan monastery in Bloomington, Ind., where the Dalai Lama's older brother, Thubten Norbu, lives. Greg had developed an intellectual interest in Buddhism.

“I'm glad that I got to spend that time with my dad,” Stefanie, a religion major in college, said.

Greg's Tibetan trip took him to Mount Kailash, Asia's holiest mountain, sacred to Buddhists and Hindus, as part of a tour by Elder Treks, Toronto.

“It was pretty much on his terms,” Tammy said. “It was a journey he needed to take. He was where he wanted to be.”

Tammy said Kailash was the point of origin for four great rivers of Asia. The main object of this trip was the pilgrimage of 33 to 40 miles around its base.

“For those who make the pilgrimage around the base, the sins of a lifetime are forgiven,” Tammy said.

Most of the hike was at about 15,000 feet and they spent between eight and 10 hours a day walking, with the longest day, 15 hours. They had to cross a glacier, at about 18,600 feet, where they could see Mt. Everest in the distance.

Tammy said Greg was more concerned about her because she was so exhausted that she had to continue on horseback for 2 1/2 hours. Horses and yaks were on hand to carry supplies.

One of the Sherpa guides saw that Greg was ill and tried to get him to go to the Lhasa hospital to be checked, but Greg refused, continuing on to Everest.

Shortly after, Greg was in the Land Rover on a 10-hour trip back to the hospital, where he was treated but passed away on June 19. Tammy said before the trip he had been given a clean bill of health by his physicians and that the guides were well prepared to handle emergencies.

But she had to deal with Greg's death alone because the tour group was still in the mountains. After a nightmare scenario involving credit card rejections, useless U.S. dollars, borrowing money, miscommunication and missed flights in China, she had Greg cremated and finally made a 13-hour flight from Bejing to the U.S., landing in Chicago in the early morning of June 25 with Greg's ashes.

Stefanie said her father seemed to have reached a great point in his life and was at peace with himself after he underwent triple bypass surgery in the summer of 2007. That was what drove him to make this trip, she said.

“After his major heart surgery, his whole perspective on life changed,” Stefanie said. “He embraced life. Instead of sitting around talking about going, he said, 'Lets just do it,' and moved to take advantage of opportunities.”

Her parents had traveled together on all seven continents for the past 30 years.

Before this trip, last August, they had made their fifth trip to Africa, to Mt. Kilamanjaro in Kenya. There Tammy had altitude sickness at 15,000 feet. She revived after descending to 6,000 feet while Greg continued to 19,400 feet with no problem.

Greg Mathew moved to North Road in Owasco in 1980 from Minnesota, where he worked at the Mayo Clinic. Here, he worked as an ear, nose, and throat surgeon at Auburn Memorial Hospital until 2002, with a practice in the medical clinic at 77 Nelson St. Tammy had worked in the Skaneateles Middle School for 11 years as a substitute for social studies and library.

Stefanie, and her brother, Reagen, are both graduates of Skaneateles High School.

Stefanie said her father wanted to live where he could have a farm, since he was brought up on a huge dairy farm in Indiana. They settled for eight acres in Owasco, where, at one time, they owned 70 head of sheep and goats.

“It was his hobby and my full-time job,” Tammy said.

When he retired, he returned to live in Bloomington, Ind., giving up the farming.

Mathew was a communicant of Sacred Heart Church, where he belonged to the Men's Club and directed the choir for Midnight Mass at Christmastime. He played the clarinet, piano and sang.

He was also a golfer, playing in leagues at Dutch Hollow and Highland Park Golf and Country Club.

Tammy said they had planned to go to Uganda in the spring to see mountain gorillas and later to Mongolia, with the same group they went with to the Himalayas. While she cancelled those two trips, she plans to go abroad with Stefanie in the spring.

“I'm not going to back away,” Tammy said.

As for Greg, they'll keep traveling together.“His ashes are going with me wherever I go,” she said.

Staff writer Kathleen Barran can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or kathleen.barran@lee.net