Beyond Hope:

We are in the mountains and the cycles are very slow climbing the steep grades.

On Thursday we were cycling to Hope BC and inadvertently made an error and turned onto the wrong road.

I was the chase vehicle and when I came up to Charlie’s and Les’ position they asked me where they were.

Jokingly I told them they were beyond Hope meaning that they screwed up on the route and missed Hope but I also joke a lot with Charlie and I implied that he was beyond hope but implying in other ways.

This is the kind of friendly banter Charlie and I have passed back and forth since we became friends.

As I drove along in the support van I thought about the four men on the road riding to bring awareness to the amazing science being developed by the talented research team at McMaster University Hospital.

What is Noteworthy News?

We are proudly into day 2 of our Incredible Journey and as I said at the onset of accepting my position of road manager and keeper of the blogs I will post from the hip and tell it as it is.

For us to be successful at our endeavour we need to engage as many people as we can to become team members and join our efforts as messengers to get this amazing story out.

Our current road group is made up of only 6 members. We are limited in the number of people we can contact personally.

If we had six more people we could contact twice as many people to make them aware of this amazing miracle. That would be good. But if we could attract 1200 more messengers into our dedicated group of 6 we would have 200 X as many messengers telling everyone of this miracle. 

I can’t imagine how the message we carry, a message that will give so many spinal cord injury patients hope  and the will to soldier on knowing that with the surgury and therepy can give them some if not all function through the spinal cord regeneration could not be considered news worthy..

A Day to Remember

Today was a very good day for the Athletes.

We started our day off with a news event hosted by the City of Chilliwack.

The whole City Staff was there to greet us as well as numerous media groups. Good questions were asked and the spirit of the athletes rose significantly.

There were many notable occurrences at this event and I was proud of the way our group of athletes handled the frank discussions about disabled people and our Incredible Journey.

We asked the entire group to join us as we are only six messenger’s with an extremely large important message to deliver to all Canadians.

The Journey has Started

This morning we held a News Event in Victoria BC at mile 0 of the Trans Canada Highway.

We were accompanied by a Local Lions Club Member from the Victoria  China Town Lions Richard Silver.

Richard stood proudly with us as a part of the Team that is forming across Canada to make a Miracle.

The Media was present and took many photo and Video shots of our 4 heroes. We then proceeded from this lovely venue on the waterfront to the Legislature Buildings for some photo ops then a mad dash to catch the 3:00 pm ferry to the mainland.

It is time for me to admit that I was the first to scratch the new trailer when I was maneuvering a very tight turn along our route in traffic. The final result was that I lost the battle with the light post with a sign hanging out into our traffic lane and the awning was ripped. In true red green fashion I offered to make it good as new with the requisite roll of duct tape that all of us do it yourself carry in our tool boxes.

The Final 800 Km to Victoria.

Today we started out earlier on our trek to Victoria electing to stop en route for brunch instead of having breakfast at the start.

Little did we know that this simple decision/ choice or whatever you call it would again lead us to a strange coincidence and meeting when we stopped for our brunch.

As I relate this story please remember that for the following story to have unfolded a lot of things had to come into play.

A Journey to remember and you Gotta love our American Cousins

Today we got off to a good start with a light breakfast at our hotel.

As usual Chuck had everyone stirred up in the restaurant and answered many questions he garnered through his antics.

We have received a lot of sincere interest from our American Cousins and the dialogue opened through the Huge van posters and Chucks antics have really been positive for our purpose of public awareness of the significant research being conducted in Canada at McMaster University Medical Center.

I am sure the people we talked with were very surprised at the news of the Canadian Miracle that is about to unfold once we raise the necessary funds through our efforts in this marathon.

Now by our efforts I am not referring to the motley crew of six people, four athletes and two support persons crossing Canada this summer to bring public awareness to this significant research that is being done.

Prelude to the Journey of a Lifetime

We are finally on route to position ourselves in Victoria BC for the official start of our cross Canada marathon starting June 10th.

Crossing the border in Detroit was no problem however we were a little tense due to the length of time Charlie sat at the US Customs Booth.

It turned out the Customs Agent had worked with handicapped athletes and he had a story to tell that took about 10 minutes.

Rockton Lions Club Fish Fry and ‘just like the rats’

On Saturday afternoon we met at the Rockton Fairgrounds for the Rockton Lion’s Hosted Fishfry.

The event was a complete success and the crowds moved through the Agricultural hall steadily throughout the evening enjoying friendly chats with friends and neighbours and the satisfaction of community participation.

It was nice for me to attend an event in my home community and witness such a large community support for the Wheel To Walk event.

We had the support van and trailer on display and answered many questions. The athletes posed for pictures with friends and supporters.

One interesting comment I heard during the evening was “You mean the Doctors have repaired the severed spinal cords on Lab rats and the Rats are Walking and for only 30 cents from every Canadian they will be able to make injured humans walk again …..Just Like the Rats…..”

Last minute preparations & Why am I doing this

Charlie has been very busy the last two days getting the banners installed on both Vans and the Trailer.

So far the art work is awsome and you can see it at the Lions Fish Fry in Rockton when you join us tomorrow to meet the team.

Last minute work has been done on the trailer for the rear wheel chair ramp access and last minute tuning on the special cross Canada Trikes is being done. A very special thanks to John Vanhattem, Bill Brubacher and Mike Crutchlow for all their hard work and dedication to our cause.

Welcome to Wheel to Walk Canada.

An Incredible Journey will Begin on June 10, 2008, four men will begin their Journey of 10,000 km across 10 provinces to raise 10 million dollars. Their mission: To Walk Again.
Please link to Wheel to Walk Canada for the full story and video on the exciting developments in Spinal Cord Regeneration research being done at McMaster University Medical Center in Hamilton Ontario. Once you have reviewed the site please return to this blog with your questions and comments.

We welcome all your thoughts and assistance in reaching our goal of raising 10 million dollars for the scientists to complete the human clinical trials on this exciting medical breakthrough.

Check back to both this site and Wheel to Walk Canada to follow our progress as we cross this great country raising awareness and money so that spinal cord injury repair and cure can become a reality.

We need your support and financial assistance to reach our athletes’ goal to walk again.