Justin Reimer said, “Eli’s life and the lives of those with disability have infinite worth and they can do great things.”
Eli Reimer is an amazing 15-year-old, and he is now the first person with Down Syndrome to reach the base camp on Mt. Everest. As People reports, it took 10 days for Eli, alongside his father Justin, to climb the 17,000 feet. But the teenager from Oregon did it. Justin explained it was the teen who led the group the whole way up during the climb. He said,
He was actually leading us on the trail and we were the ones feeling our own sense of disability. It was no big deal to him, the rest of us were sucking wind.
Justin told HLN in an interview that they had never planned to “attempt such a big undertaking,” but after he was approached by a friend with the idea, he started thinking the climb could be a great opportunity to raise funds for The Elisha Foundation, which Justin and his wife created to help encourage other families caring for members with disabilities. He told HLN, “It was humbling, it was inspiring, just an amazing moment.”
Watch the HLN interview with Eli and Justin above.