Amid cupcakes, coffee and conversation, Don Stevenson turned 80 on Monday and used the occasion to launch his latest charity jaunt – a 1,000-mile benefit and awareness walk for the Pulmonary Hypertension Association.

“I feel good,” Stevenson, the Pacin’ Parson, said at a birthday celebration with family and friends at Zion Lutheran Church. “I feel just like I did yesterday, but I feel younger inside than I do on the outside. It’s walking, the exercise that keeps me young.”

The retired pastor plans on averaging 100 miles per week – between 20 and 30 miles a day, Monday through Friday – for 10 weeks. Saturdays are set aside for pulmonary hypertension (PH) patients who wish to join Stevenson for walks inside The Outlet Collection mall. Stevenson can be found walking around Game Farm Park each Monday. His benefit walk will take him to Kent, Sumner, Bonney Lake, Enumclaw, Tacoma, Spanaway and other area trails.

Stevenson will cover the distance with a walker and an oxygen tank to demonstrate the plight of many PH patients. He hopes to complete the walk by March 14.

PH is high blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs – an incurable, debilitating disease that affects the functioning of the heart and can lead to death from heart failure. Without treatment, the average survival time is 2.8 years. Given symptoms that include shortness of breath, fatigue and fainting, PH is often misdiagnosed as asthma or other less-threatening illnesses.

A former U.S. Marine, Stevenson has completed many charity walks over the years. Last September, after nearly four months, he finished a 3,000-mile, cross-country walk from Washington state to the Washington, D.C. area, raising nearly $10,000 in donations and pledges for PHA.

Donors can help Stevenson raise funding for his cause by going to www.phassociation.org/PacingParson or www.O2breathe.org/FightPH16.