Martina Navratilova to climb Kilimanjaro despite battling cancer

Retired tennis player Martina Navratilova is refusing to let her recent breast cancer diagnosis stop her from reaching her goals and will go ahead with her plans to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.

Doctors caught the condition in its early stages after the sports legend underwent a routine mammogram in February this year.

Navratilova was distraught when she first learned of her condition, but she has since vowed to live life to the full - and is starting by training for the gruelling climb up the African peak in December 2010.

The nine-time Wimbledon champion is carrying out the challenge to raise funds for the Laureus World Sports Academy - which uses sport to aid positive social change.

"Cancer does make you take a pause and re-evaluate, make sure that you're doing everything you want to do in life, and I am... I'm climbing Mount Kilimanjaro for Laureus," the Daily Express quoted her as saying on TV show Loose Women.

"I'm a member of the Laureus Academy and we have a Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.

"We try and raise money for that and so I'm climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. I spend a lot of time in Kenya and Tanzania, so I'm looking forward to that... I'm hoping to make it to the top," she added.

Navratilova has undergone a lumpectomy and will begin a six-week course of radiation therapy in May 2010.