Four years ago, doctors told Eric Borstein he had a few months to live. This week he’s walking 190 miles from Los Angeles to San Diego to raise awareness of his rare disease and how he’s beating it, one step at a time.
In September 2020, the Los Angeles resident was diagnosed with a rare lung disease called pulmonary arterial hypertension, a type of high blood pressure that affects the right side of the heart. The lungs’ blood vessels are blocked, increasing blood pressure and causing the heart to work harder until it weakens and fails.
“I was sick. I was dying. I collapsed in our bedroom and was dying in the bedroom. I was rushed to the hospital where I spent 16 days in the intensive care unit,” Borstein told The Epoch Times.
The disease has no cure, but there are treatments to alleviate the stress on the body. Borstein stayed at Cedars Sinai Medical Center and then transferred to National Jewish Health.
His doctors put him on drugs like Veletri to stabilize his condition and kept him in the ICU. Veletri contains epoprostenol, an active ingredient with side effects that can include headaches; arm, back, or jaw pain; and bloating or swelling of the face or extremities.
Borstein started to walk to help alleviate the side effects.
“A step turned into two, two turned into three,” he said. “I was walking three, four times, five times a night in the ICU. And so it helped. So I was stabilized.”
The doctors sent Borstein home and told him he may have three to six months to live. But he was determined to overcome his disease.
“So I started walking around the block. You know, a block led to two, led to three, led to four, led to a mile led to two. And so I found, not only was the walking helping with the side effects. It was helping, you know, psychologically and living with the terminal disease,” said Borstein. “At a year I went to get my [echocardiogram], and my heart had made almost a complete recovery, which was nothing short of miraculous.”
Eric Borstein at Laguna Beach. (Courtesy of Eric Borstein)
However, the side effects of the medication continued, so he kept walking. He was walking up to 10 miles and thought he should raise awareness of the disease, which most people have never heard of.
Borstein met with doctors, who co-founded a nonprofit called Team Phenomenal Hope with a goal of motivating pulmonary hypertension patients through exercise. He was inspired, and a year later, one of his daughters also wanted to do something to raise awareness. Borstein decided to accomplish that by walking from Los Angeles to San Diego.
He created a fundraising campaign called Where is EB?, a platform where he raises money for his walk for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. His wife, three children and friends supported him, and in four months, his campaign gained popularity. Surprisingly, he said the easiest part is the walk. The hardest was putting together the event.
“I’m extremely fortunate that I have such a close family and group of friends and the best doctors, and I’m able to pay for my prescription drugs,” said Borstein. “And I have a great business partner who takes on a lot of the workload.”
Borstein at Camp Pendleton. (Courtesy of Eric Borstein)
Eric Borstein with a U.S. Marine. (Courtesy of Eric Borstein)
On the first day, he started in Santa Monica and walked 22 miles south along a bike path through Marina del Rey, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, and ended in Torrance. On the second day, he covered 34 miles from Torrance to Huntington Beach. On the third day, he covered about 30 miles from Huntington Beach to San Clemente. On the fourth day, he walked through Camp Pendleton, a military camp, with an escort from the U.S. Marines.
The message he wants to get out is hope, encouraging those with the disease to try and that they are not alone.
“If I can help somebody get out of bed and take a step, or if I can show somebody that, you know, put the effort in and just try, one step forward,” he said. “That’s all I want to do.”
