Cancer survivors plan Everest concert

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Cancer survivors will organize a musical concert on Mount Everest this month hoping the world's highest ever musical gig will raise awareness about the disease.

More than three dozen people, including seven cancer survivors, some of them musicians, will leave Kathmandu this week for the base camp of the 8,850-metre (29,035-feet) mountain for the concert at Kalapathar.

Kalapathar, located at about 5,500 meters (18,040 feet) on Mount Everest above its base camp, is a popular destination for thousands of foreign trekkers who go to the region every year.

"We are taking a battle against cancer to new heights," Shannon Foley, who is a director of the Denver-based charity, Love Hope Strength foundation, said on Wednesday.

"What a higher place in the world than this."

James Chippendale, 39, from Dallas, Texas, a cancer survivor, and a member of the group, said the money raised from the concert will provide for medical equipment to a local cancer hospital in the ancient city of Bhaktapur, near the capital, Kathmandu.

Participants in the group include those from the United States, Britain, Australia, France and Canada.

Musicians include from bands like The Alarm, Stray Cats, the Fixx and the Squeeze.