Spencer Matthews still maintains confidence that his brother Michael’s remains will be discovered on Mount Everest 23 years after he vanished.
Michael Matthews became the youngest Englishman to reach the summit of the world’s tallest mountain in 1999, at the age of 22. Three hours later, he vanished, never to be seen again.
Nearly two decades later, the Matthews family received a hopeful new lead when a climber gave Spencer a photo of a body wearing clothing identical to what Mike was wearing at the time of his death in the same region where he was last seen — an area dubbed the death zone.
Together, they were faced with a difficult choice: Do they risk another life to rescue Mike’s body?
Only eight days after the birth of his third child, with the approval of his wife Vogue Williams, Spencer undertook the trek to Nepal with a team of specialists in the hopes of finding his brother.
The incredible voyage is the topic of the Disney + film Seeking Michael, which follows Spencer on the greatest adventure of his life as he faces several unforeseen obstacles.
Unfortunately, the body in the photo supplied to the Matthews family was not Mike, but that did not prevent Spencer from ascending Everest in search of his brother or at the very least explanations about his death.
Mike’s crew uncovered several bodies, however none of them belonged to Michael. Spencer acknowledged that he would not be bringing his brother home on this trip.
Spencer has not yet given up hope that Mike will be discovered one day and that his family will be able to say their final goodbyes.
‘I’m not sure that we would try to find him again unless there was some serious lead or development,’ he said.
‘I just think there was a huge amount of time and resources spent on this mission and it’s a very difficult task.’
Spencer was resolved to bring someone back down and offer another family some form of closure, despite the fact that he would not discover Mike’s body himself.
‘What we ended up doing feels like the right thing to do and if we didn’t find him this time, I’m not sure we will,’ he continued.
‘However, I’m hoping quietly that if the film is a success, and people watch it, people who do climb Everest in the future might always have an eye on it just in case.
‘If anybody does surface – and that does happen, bodies surface and disappear and move around – you never know.
‘There may be somebody that goes up the mountain who catches a glimpse of a body that looks like it could be Mike’s, and we could be up there again. But at the moment, I think it’s closed.’
Spencer may not have received the conclusion he desired, but the life-altering adventure nonetheless assisted him in overcoming his sadness and loss.
‘I felt like I hadn’t been that close to Mike in over 20 years,’ he said.
‘There’s no resentment there anymore; I’ve come to terms with his death completely. Now when I look at photos of him in our house, I smile. It makes me happy to see him instead of feeling angry about it.’
Finding Michael is available to stream on Disney Plus now.
Source My Celebrity Life.
