Teenager sets off to conquer Canada and cancer
Posted March 28, 2013 11:54 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
CHILLIWACK (NEWS1130) – His feet ache and he’s seen a few traffic accidents but that’s not slowing down a young man and his quest to walk across Canada.
Eighteen-year-old Breyden Erickson is from Salmon Arm and doing the more than 5,000 kilometre trek to raise money for cancer research.
He says he’s doing this walk because of a close friend who’s going through a tough time.
“She’s kind of stubborn in the way that she doesn’t accept help as easily as I’d like her to, so I wanted to make sure that I do my part to make sure she gets all the help she can,” Erickson says.
He dipped his foot in the Pacific Ocean in Victoria on Saturday and now finds himself in Chilliwack.
Erickson estimates he’s doing between 20 and 30 kilometres a day, so is he getting any stronger?
“Not quite yet, I’m still on the breaking point. Once I’m broken down quite a bit then I’ll be a bit better. It’s not like my back hurts or my leg hurts. It’s my feet that are taking a beating,” he notes.
Erickson figures the walk will take about seven months to complete.
“It’s all about getting into a mindset – if you walk this far, than you’ll be able to relax for this amount of time and won’t have to worry about the pain for that,” he figures.
He says he bides his time during those treks by listening to music or podcasts.
“Sometimes I just sit and relax. I need to take an hour or so in between just to give my muscles a break, just sit there and let my mind wander.”
If you’d like to help Breyden Erickson with his cross-country cancer fundraiser click the link or follow him on Twitter.
April 1st marks the start of Daffodil month, a fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society,
