INQUIRER.net
A Pinoy on Mount Everest is no longer big news nowadays. Not after the recent accomplishments of the young Filipino men and women who scaled the highest mountain in the world.
But my cousin, Eli Serina, did it by overcoming some pretty tough hurdles. For one thing, he has a heart condition for which he has to take aspirin regularly. A veteran medical doctor, he also was busy for about a month before the climb, helping poor people in Ilam, a small town about 400 miles east of Kathmandu in Nepal.
When he was done with his work and ready to scale Everest, he had to deal with another potential setback. A nationwide strike broke out in Nepal and he had to escape the village by maneuvering through roadblocks.
And then there was his age. Dr. Serina is 68 years old.
I haven’t seen much written about what he did. I myself found out about it through my niece, Elaine, who told me about this brave, if somewhat crazy, thing her dad was trying to do.
“It’s a great inspirational story about going beyond one's comfort zone to test the human limits for human love and compassion,” Elaine said in an e-mail shortly before Eli began his ascent on February 25. Like a typical daughter, she added, “I can't believe this is my father I'm talking about -- ack!!”
I didn’t hear from Elaine for weeks, and started to worry. Then I got another e-mail early this month: Eli made it and is back.
As expected, it was not exactly a walk in the park, especially not for an elderly man with a heart condition who didn’t have the logistical support and media attention that his younger Pinoy counterparts enjoyed when they took on Everest.
Eli is back in their home in Palos Verdes in southern California, resting. He is also trying to learn to walk again. That’s because he suffered a severe left leg contusion and sustained other injuries about a half hour before reaching the top of Kala Patthar, the highest point beyond the Everest Base Camp.
He was already at the 18,000-foot level where the temperature was 30 degrees below zero with wind chill, when the saddle of his horse came loose, causing Eli to fall. He would have continued sliding down the mountain had the rocks and bushes along the path not blocked his descent. He was also trapped under his horse and got out only when his guides lifted the horse,
He should have stopped there. But Eli pushed on, eventually reaching the summit. After having his picture taken with his guides and horse, he began his descent. Now, my cousin is not Superman and his injuries had already made him too weak to go all the way down. A helicopter was sent to pick him up after four hours of riding.
Eli is writing a book about his adventure so you can get learn more details when it comes out.
He’s family so I guess I’m biased. But I’ll bet you’ll agree with me when I say: Eli Serina is one tough, gutsy Pinoy.
Copyright 2008 by Benjamin Pimentel
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