After enduring blizzards, winds and long stretches without food, a Saskatchewan man has arrived in Victoria, B.C. after a cross-country walk aimed at creating more awareness about abuse and violence.
Conrad Burns, a 38-year-old Cree from Prince Albert, began his walk on April 1 in St. John’s, N.L., 7,400 kilometres to the east.
Burns arrived in Victoria without much fanfare on Monday.
Only his mother and two friends were there to greet him, but he had plenty help along the way.
Burns estimates that he personally walked 3,500 kilometres with the rest of the distance covered by friends who joined him for portions of his journey, kilometres he counts as part of his total.
He says the walk from Ottawa to Thunder Bay was the loneliest and most trying portion of his trek.
Burns, who set out to raise money to build safety homes for abuse, says was unable to accomplish the goal and the $10,000 he raised went to cover the walk and the support he received.
Fittingly, Burns completed his journey at the statue in Victoria of Terry Fox, now a Canadian icon and hero but unknown in April, 1980, when at the age of 21 and with one leg amputated because of cancer, he began his now famous Marathon of Hope, a cross-country run to raise money for cancer research in St. John’s.
Fox was forced to end his run after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres outside Thunder Bay, Ontario when the cancer spread to his lungs.
His dream of overcoming the disease and completing his marathon ended when he died nine months later.
The annual Terry Fox Run, first held in 1981, now involves millions of participants in over 60 countries.
It has become the world’s largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research with over $650 million raised in his name.
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