Wigginton continues climbing tallest building in each state for charity

On Sunday, March 24, Jim Wigginton, of Van Buren Township climbed the Columbia Center Tower, in Seattle, the tallest building in the state of Washington, as part of his goal to set a record for climbing the staircase of the tallest building in every state.
That was following his March 9 climb, when reporters from three news stations in Indianapolis separately interviewed him as he was getting ready to climb the tallest building in Indiana. He told them this was his 15th tall building.
He said his goal of climbing the tallest buildings in each state is being done to raise awareness and contributions for Folds of Honor, which provides scholarships to the families of fallen or disabled veterans and first responders, and Legacy Expeditions, raising money for special-operation veterans dealing with service-related issues. He also is promoting a thyroid cancer foundation at the University of Michigan.
In the last 17 years, Folds of Honor has provided over 53,000 scholarships, he said.
Legacy Expeditions is a veteran-founded and run organization that organizes extreme expeditions in memory of fallen special operations veterans.
“Our last expedition in 2023 was skydiving on all seven continents,” Wigginton said. “This resulted in four world records, including fastest time to jump on all seven continents (six days, six hours), and on six continents (four days, 10 hours).
Wigginton holds the current world record for the fastest time to climb or descend one million stairs.
He said on March 24 he did three laps of the 147 floors, 3,200 stairs, in less than one hour.
“I didn’t see the final standings, but I finished first of anyone over 60, and probably in the middle of the 25 that climbed more than one lap, and ahead of the 500 other people that climbed just one lap,” he said.
He also is earning funds for the Punya Thyroid Cancer Foundation, named after his late wife, which has supported two thyroid cancer doctors at the University of Michigan – Dr. Megan Haymart and Dr. Francis Worden. Their work over the last ten years, has been able to increase the life expectancy of more than 5,000 stage-four thyroid cancer patients by five times while substantially increasing their quality of life, he said.
People who want to learn more about these charities, or donate, can go to Foldsofhonor.org , Legacyexpeditions.net,
http://giving.umich.edu/give/cancer-punya