Patients inspire Elio Diaz to make trek for the American Heart Association.
By: Charlie Olsen
Next week, a Duncan Court resident will begin a 52-mile trek across the rim of the Grand Canyon that will span two days.
Elio F. Diaz Jr., 45, is making the trek from Wednesday to Sept. 29 to raise money for the American Heart Association (AHA) to help fight heart disease. Donations for his walk are being collected by the AHA and pooled together with its fundraising Heart Walk in April 2007.
"I’m getting a little older now, so I could go chase young women or buy a nice new car but instead I’m doing this," Mr. Diaz said. "Some people think I’m out of my mind, and some are willing to donate, but everyone is very supportive."
Mr. Diaz plans to walk 23.5 miles a day, staying at a hotel overnight.
To help prepare, he did a 17.5-mile training hike on the Appalachian Trail. He had planned to do a longer hike until he had a run-in with a rattlesnake.
"The path got really narrow, about 4-feet wide, and I saw what looked like a log ahead," Mr. Diaz said. "About 3 feet away I realized it wasn’t a log and I reacted like Curly, Daffy Duck and Michael Jackson doing the moonwalk all at once."
After the encounter, Mr. Diaz cut his training hike short to 12 miles, which took about 8 hours, and had his wife, Annabelle, pick him up at the nearest roadside.
"After the snake and a bear encounter, I probably ended up doing the distance by the time I met my wife," Mr. Diaz said. "It was grueling, I was walking over rocks literally the size of a Mini Cooper."
He said he didn’t think surprise rattlesnakes would be a problem at the Grand Canyon because there was less brush, and better visibility there.
Mr. Diaz said heart disease is a problem he encounters daily at his job in the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital catheterization lab.
"Our average patient is in their mid-60s, but some are in their 20s," Mr. Diaz said. "Usually it’s people with diabetes, who are smoking, or don’t eat right. We had our 5,120th case this year this past Friday."
Since he started working at the hospital five years ago, he estimates there have been 24,000 to 30,000 cases of heart disease.
As of Monday, Mr. Diaz had raised about $975 through his "Canyon Busters," the name of his supporters, but is looking to raise about $2,500.
"Originally I had a goal of $5,000, seeing how I work with a lot of doctors but now I’m probably looking for about $2,500," Mr. Diaz said.
Although training for this trek has been taking a lot of his time lately, he’s lost 24 pounds in the effort, Mr. Diaz said that he enjoys playing baseball. Mr. Diaz lives with his wife and two children: Stephanie, 19, and Christian-Peter, 4.
To make a donation, visit the Web site heartwalk.kintera.org/middlesexcountynj.

