Jon Nabbs born and raised in New Zealand has been running across Canada and has already raised $24,000 for childhood cancer.
He has been on the road for 200 days and has run nearly 5,000 kilometres.
Nabbs began the run in May in St. Johns following in the footsteps of Canadian icon, Terry Fox.
“It’s very much a journey inspired by Terry Fox. His story, his legacy, it reached all the way down to New Zealand where I come from, at the bottom of the world. Even back in the 1980s, when he ran.” he said.
His goal is to raise $60,000 and has a personal connection attached to that goal.
“I can remember that awful feeling that I had when both of my parents got diagnosed with cancer. It’s just like you’ve been punched in the stomach and there’s just this loss of hope,” he said.
Nabbs lost both of his parents to the disease in the past three years.
He has been helped by many Canadians who have offered him food and shelter but the rest of the time he’s been living off what is in a stroller he pushes with him, such as food and clothing.
So far the weather has been on his side but he is prepared for the bitter cold ahead.
“I’m comfortable to go down to about -25, -30 and stay camping. I’m prepared for four seasons of camping. But anything below that, you know, I’m not going to try and be a hero. Safety first. I’ll hunker down and wait out the really cold temperatures. ”
In addition to running, Nabb said he likes to visit the children in cancer wards and he wears a Superman costume to brighten their day.
“It just makes all of the pain and the miles that I’m doing out here on the road irrelevant. The pain’s irrelevant,” he added.
Nabbs said he hopes to finish his run in January in Victoria after eight months and 8000km.
— With files from Global’s Katherine Dornian
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