Eli to Everest - Trek4TEF

Today we feature a guest blogger. A warm Reggie's Place welcome to Justin Reimer as he shares a very personal and inspirational story about his son Eli. To hear more about their story and to support their foundation please visit: http://www.theelishafoundation.org/

Good stuff Justin! Congratulations to you, Eli, and the rest of your crew!

This story began almost two years ago when I reconnected with an old friend (Kevin Padgett). Kevin had the idea of trekking to Mt. Everest Base Camp as a fundraiser for The Elisha Foundation, our non-profit organization working to reach and encourage the disabled. This adventure had a purpose beyond the fundraising though. The purpose was to raise awareness of the needs of those impacted by disability around the world. My son, Eli (15 year old sophomore in high school), myself, and 7 other teammates signed up for the trip and we all began mentally and physically preparing for the long road ahead.

The Trek4TEF Mt. Everest Base Camp trek was officially launched in March of 2012, as the effort to raise funds and our team got under way. Our departure date was March 1, 2013. This gave us a full year to raise our $10,000 per team member fundraising goal. It also gave us time to do the physical training needed to accomplish this trek and gather the gear needed for the trail. For Eli, it meant lots of mileage on the stair-climber and a visit to Altrec.

Eli was kitted by the crew at Altrec with a Marmot Amadablam parka, Smartwool base layers, Mountain Hardwear soft shell, Black Diamond trekking poles, and some other essential items.

Entering Nepal

We arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal on the night of March 4th and spent the next day visiting sites and grabbing any remaining gear needed for the trek. This was also our initial bit of “bonding” time as a Team. We traveled the sights of the city before heading back to prep for the flight to Lukla the next morning and the first day on the trail.

The Himalayas

The flight  from Kathmandu was CRAZY beautiful. As we rose above the city smog, you could see the Himalayas reaching up towards the heavens. It was jawdropping! Words or pictures cannot do it justice – these mountains are just freakishly large - the Himalayan mountain range has over 100 mountain peaks exceeding 23,000ft. We descended over a handful of ridgelines before the runway of the Lukla Airport came into view, cut into the mountainside in front of us. We approached quickly and …BANG, rattle, rattle we were there! (and in one piece…thank you Jesus!)

Eli is a fit and strong young man but none-the-less we were concerned about some of the physical challenges that can come with Down Syndrome – low muscle tone, heart issues, etc. Due to the unknowns of Eli’s unique physiology we didn’t know how his body would respond to the rigors of the trail and effects of high altitude (even though his doctors all approved and released him to go on this trip). Because of this uncertainty, our Team knew that every overnight stop in the villages along the way was a “summit” for Eli. As we would approach our stop for the night one of us would call out, “Summit #3…” or whatever number it was. We all hoped that Eli would make it to that magically significant “Summit Day” at Mt. Everest Base Camp but knew that each and every step was a missive accomplishment.

Tea breaks and music stops with Eli were a normal part of life on the trail. Music really helped Eli stay motivated, as did stories and a hand or arm to hold while hiking. On various days of the trek we all had the chance to take Eli under our wing and make sure he was in good spirits. But he also helped us and pushed us every day as he led the team on the trail for the majority of the trip. He was a champion! He honestly outdid most of us on this whole journey. While the rest of the team was getting sick, loosing our appetite and loosing sleep each night due to the high altitude, Eli charged on, ate enough food for two people at every meal and slept like a rock every single night – he was made for this sort of adventure. 

As we marched on, the trail was a mix of steep ascending steps, uneven rocky terrain and wandering descents. The temperatures changed from cool mornings to cold mornings to just being cold all day long. Our bodies started to feel the strain and show the effects of altitude gain as we adjusted to having 40% less oxygen then is available to us at sea level. As we climbed some steeper terrain breathing was more labored and our pace slowed greatly, but we pressed on into deeper valleys where the glaciers become part of the terrain. We lived in these “highlands” above 14,000 ft for a full week.

 At various points along the trail Mt. Everest gave us little glimpses of her massive and very elusive glory. At this point, we had been on the trail for 10 days and were ready to reach our final destination. We honestly never imagined that the entire team would make it but somehow the goal of Everest Base Camp was finally within our oxygen starved reach. A long day of trekking through the wreckage of glacial rock debris brought us up to a ridge line alongside the Khumbu glacier and from there we could see the top of Everest barely peaking out from behind the massive mountain range.

The terrain approaching Base Camp is all small boulders and a landslide area of gravel, shale, and rock that is being continually carved out by the glacier. As we approached Base Camp we tried to really wrap our minds around what was happening and what we were accomplishing.

And then finally, at 17,598 feet above sea level, WE MADE IT to Mt. Everest Base Camp!!! There we were – at the foot of the highest mountain on Earth. It was all very surreal.

“We were standing in the midst of a collection of the world’s highest mountains all around us and there stands Eli, my son. My son, who because of his disability would be pushed to the fringe of many societies and not even be thought able to walk down the street, spent 10 days hiking up into the foreboding yet beautiful mountains of the Himalayas…is now standing at the base of the highest mountain in the world. God created Eli so uniquely that he has now touched thousands of lives through simply walking a hard trail up some mountains much the same as he has had to navigate the mountain of his own disability. Tamara and I are humbled but we are grateful that God has given purpose in this Everest adventure and that He has a glorious purpose for the disabled.” - Eli’s Dad

  
Before we knew it, Eli’s story had spread rapidly across the nation and around the world within the following week. His story was seen and heard by literally millions of people around the globe, reaching at least 40 other countries through radio, internet and television.

We knew that Eli’s story would be different and we hoped that it would get some attention and build awareness on many levels. But we never imagined the type of publicity Eli’s story received after we returned from Nepal. We never set out to break records or anything like that. We honestly didn’t know if Eli (or any of us for that matter) would even make it past day one!

The whole point of this trip wasn’t that Eli would do something no one had ever done before (although the media loved that and spread the news far and wide).

The point in all of this was to spread a message of hope and love. To be able to talk about disability in a different light, and maybe help the world understand that it’s nothing to hide or run away from. We wanted to show and talk about how each of us are created uniquely and for a purpose and how each of us have value. Most of all, that we have hope in something Greater.
 

We will see what adventures lie ahead for Eli but right now he is spending his summer along side us, his family, serving the disabled in Ukraine who have massive cultural mountains to climb for acceptance and proper care. Beyond that, maybe Kilimanjaro will call his name...

-  Justin Reimer

Husband, proud father of Eli and 4 other beauties