EDMONTON -- A heart attack survivor is hosting a “taste of base camp” in Jasper to prepare himself and raise funds for when he will attempt to summit Mount Everest.

Leo Namen, a 48-year-old Edmontonian originally from Colombia, suffered a heart attack in 2018 while he was doing a cardio workout.

Mountain climbing has been a passion of Namen’s since he was 14-years-old. Prior to his heart attack he had climbed dozens of mountains all over the world.

Despite doctors telling him he would never be able to summit a mountain again, he worked with a team and support group to prepare to summit the tallest mountain on Earth: Mount Everest.

READ MORE: Heart attack survivor looks to make history by summiting Mount Everest 

Originally scheduled to climb Everest in 2020, Namen said COVID-19 delayed those plans. Through the pandemic, Namen continued to train and prepare despite not knowing what the future of travel and restrictions would look like.

Now he has his sights set on climbing the mountain later this year.

Currently, he is training and raising awareness for his upcoming trip by conducting a “taste of base camp.”

He has set up a camp at Marmot Basin in Jasper to replicate what his camp would like at Mount Everest Base Camp.

“The goal is to tell people, here is what I will be doing there,” Namen said in an interview with CTV News Edmonton.

“I will be eating the food that I would be eating there. Doing the things I would be doing there. Just to let people know a little bit of what it actually is to be in base camp.”

Namen is also fundraising to help cover the cost of permits, travel, and equipment. He is currently halfway towards his fundraising goal.

“It’s been harder maybe to climb this mountain of finances and money than probably Everest you know,” Namen said as he laughed.

Leo Namen

He hopes his experience will inspire those who have suffered heart attacks to never give up on their dreams.

“It’s about telling survivors there is a light at the end of the tunnel,” Namen said. “You see all those lights shutting off one by one on you. There’s opportunities ahead that you can take.”

All proceeds raised by Namen will be donated to the Heart and Stroke Foundation for women’s coronary research.

“It killed me to think that one of my daughters, or my granddaughter or my wife would be one of them because that’s the percentage. Out of five women, one die of heart disease.”

Namen will be the second heart attack survivor on Earth to summit Mount Everest and the first Canadian and North American to climb the mountain after a heart attack.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Amanda Anderson