BATH COUNTY, Va. – One man is living out his dream after he was diagnosed with a terminal lung disease.
In August of 2021, Brett Anderson realized he was having excessive shortness of breath with simple exertions, like walking up a slight hill.
Since he worked as a pilot for United Airlines for 26 years, Anderson originally thought a lot of the fatigue was because of jet lag, but as it turns out, it was much more.
“Initially I just attributed it to jet lag but it became more than that. I ended up in the hospital for four days with a fairly rare form of pneumonia called eosinophilic pneumonia,” Anderson said.
After being released and started on a treatment regimen, he got better for a while, but after a few months, he stopped improving.
Anderson visited one of the top pulmonology clinics in the world, the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota. He was diagnosed with Pulmonary Fibrosis.
The lung disease is terminal, and now, Anderson doesn’t know if his life will be over in one year or ten.
“The whole time in the back of my mind … my mind was just swimming. I couldn’t get my head around it,” Anderson said.
Anderson spent most of his life up in the air, but his passion was a different form of travel – one that only require two wheels and a motor.
After getting his diagnosis, he decided – along with some pushing from his wife – that he would go on a motorcycle ride through central and South America ... a dream of his for years.
“I never had the time in the past. Now I have the time and I decided to do it and do something good with it and pair it with a fundraising event for the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation,” Anderson said.
Anderson embarked on his Last Big Ride in October of this year. He’s traveled more than 5,000 miles and raised almost $10,000 along the way. He’s visited most of central America besides Belize.
“The star of the show is actually the bike, not me. People see this big blue bike and they want to just come up and look at it and they ask me about it. We started talking, I usually give them … I carry stickers that say the last big ride,” Anderson said.
The ride is what keeps Anderson motivated. He said in a way, it’s kept his mind off of the disease.
“Sitting at home and not knowing what to do with myself all day long, I was so used to going to work every week and being gone 3-4 days a week and all a sudden I had all this time on my hand. By doing the ride it actually gives me a purpose and every day I think I have a plan … It almost in a way takes your mind off of it,” Anderson said.
Anderson is currently in Virginia spending the holidays with his family, but his adventure isn’t over yet. His next stop is in Peru.
You can keep up with his journey by following him on social media or taking a look at his website. If you want to make a donation to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation, click here.