Mountain-climbing judge’s biggest molehill: Fighting cancer

Put one foot in front of the other. For Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Marybeth Dingledy, that old advice for facing adversity isn’t nearly enough.

She steps it up — way up.

On Wednesday, the 43-year-old was officially back at work, but not from a fun-filled Christmas vacation. Dingledy, appointed to the bench a year ago, was recovering from a double mastectomy. She had surgery Dec. 5.

With her intrepid spirit, she plans to celebrate her recovery by climbing Alaska’s Denali, the highest peak in North America. Her recent surgery wasn’t the first time Dingledy coped with a health challenge. And the Denali climb in June won’t be the first time she’ll turn trouble into triumph.

“I didn’t panic about it,” Dingledy said Wednesday about the mastectomy. “I knew the potential was there. I had a lot of time to prepare.”

It was 2009, before her trek that summer up Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro, that Dingledy first was interviewed for this column. Then an attorney with the Snohomish County Public Defender Association, she told how in 2003 she learned she had inherited an altered BRCA2 gene.

People with a mutated BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene, according to the National Cancer Institute, have a much higher than normal risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer.

In a great leap beyond the specter of her genetics, Dingledy decided to climb mountains. She summited Mount Baker in 2006 in her first trek with the Climb to Fight Breast Cancer, a fundraiser for Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

She has since climbed Mount Olympus in Olympic National Park, Mount Kilimanjaro, Iztaccihuatl and Pico de Orizaba in Mexico, and has twice summited Mount Rainier. She also climbed Mount Shasta, but didn’t reach the top.

In October 2011, Dingledy took a serious step to improve her chances of dodging cancer. On the advice of doctors at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, she had a preventative hysterectomy, which is removal of the uterus, and had her ovaries removed. That reduced her risk for both ovarian and breast cancer.

And yet, this past July 30 she learned she had a noninvasive type of breast cancer, ductal carcinoma in situ, or DCIS. Dingledy reacted to that bad news as she has in the past, putting one foot in front of the other in big ways.

The weekend after finding out she had breast cancer, Dingledy took a two-week backpacking trip. In September, before the mastectomy, she and a friend walked 60 miles in Seattle’s Susan G. Komen 3-Day walk. At the end of that breast-cancer research fundraiser, Dingledy wore a pink shirt at the closing ceremony. “A pink shirt is for survivors,” she said.

She threw herself a party the weekend before she lost her breasts, which she jokingly called “the twins.”

When she showed up for her mastectomy in Seattle, she wore a tiara and a pink boa. Within a week, she was up and busy. “When I got on the exercise bike in the basement, everybody yelled at me. I can’t sit still,” she said.

She doesn’t need radiation or chemotherapy. Her focus now is on 20,320-foot Denali, also called Mount McKinley.

Dingledy shares her story on the Climb to Fight Breast Cancer www.fhcrc.org/climb

To read more about Marybeth Dingledy’s planned Denali climb:

http://tinyurl.com/MDDenaliClimb

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Trader Joe’s customers walk in and out of the store on Monday, Nov. 20, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Trader Joe’s opens this week at Everett Mall

It’s a short move from a longtime location, essentially across the street, where parking was often an adventure.

Ian Bramel-Allen enters a guilty plea to second-degree murder during a plea and sentencing hearing on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Deep remorse’: Man gets 17 years for friend’s fatal stabbing in Edmonds

Ian Bramel-Allen, 44, pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder for killing Bret Northcutt last year at a WinCo.

Firefighters respond to a small RV and a motorhome fire on Tuesday afternoon in Marysville. (Provided by Snohomish County Fire Distrct 22)
1 injured after RV fire, explosion near Marysville

The cause of the fire in the 11600 block of 81st Avenue NE had not been determined, fire officials said.

Ashton Dedmon appears in court during his sentencing hearing on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Everett Navy sailor sentenced to 90 days for fatal hit and run

Ashton Dedmon crashed into Joshua Kollman and drove away. Dedmon, a petty officer on the USS Kidd, reported he had a panic attack.

A kindergarten student works on a computer at Emerson Elementary School on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘¡Una erupción!’: Dual language programs expanding to 10 local schools

A new bill aims to support 10 new programs each year statewide. In Snohomish County, most follow a 90-10 model of Spanish and English.

Logo for news use featuring the Tulalip Indian Reservation in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Woman drives off cliff, dies on Tulalip Reservation

The woman fell 70 to 80 feet after driving off Priest Point Drive NW on Sunday afternoon.

Everett
Boy, 4, survives fall from Everett fourth-story apartment window

The child was being treated at Seattle Children’s. The city has a limited supply of window stops for low-income residents.

People head out to the water at low tide during an unseasonably warm day on Saturday, March 16, 2024, at Lighthouse Park in Mukilteo, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Everett shatters record high temperature by 11 degrees

On Saturday, it hit 73 degrees, breaking the previous record of 62 set in 2007.

Snohomish County Fire District #4 and Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue respond to a motor vehicle collision for a car and pole. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene, near Triangle Bait & Tackle in Snohomish. (Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office)
Police: Troopers tried to stop driver before deadly crash in Snohomish

The man, 31, was driving at “a high rate of speed” when he crashed into a traffic light pole and died, investigators said.

Alan Dean, who is accused of the 1993 strangulation murder of 15-year-old Bothell girl Melissa Lee, appears in court during opening statements of his trial on Monday, March 18, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
31 years later, trial opens in Bothell teen’s brutal killing

In April 1993, Melissa Lee’s body was found below Edgewater Creek Bridge. It would take 27 years to arrest Alan Dean in her death.

Logo for news use featuring the municipality of Snohomish in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Man dies after crashing into pole in Snohomish

Just before 1 a.m., the driver crashed into a traffic light pole at the intersection of 2nd Street and Maple Avenue.

Bodies of two men recovered after falling into Eagle Falls near Index

Two men fell into the falls and did not resurface Saturday, authorities said. After a recovery effort, two bodies were found.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.