Giles Ringer is a man on a mission — he’s training for a 12-hour stint on Knox Mountain’s Apex Trail.
Ringer is challenging his body and his community, asking others to join him for a lap or two of his trek to help raise funds and awareness for multiple sclerosis.
“When you have MS, you don’t necessarily feel like there is a huge amount of support because the diagnosis is not something you don’t understand, and even yourself, you don’t understand,” said Ringer.
It’s been 22 years since Ringer was diagnosed with MS and has since become an advocate for the 90,000 Canadians living with the chronic autoimmune disease.
“Anytime you feel like you can’t carry yourself, you have other people that are helping you stand up, is a really beautiful thing,” said Ringer.
Canada has the highest rate of MS in the world, and MS Canada states that one in 400 Canadians will be diagnosed in their lifetime but Ringer has never let his diagnosis slow him down.
“My experience with MS has been one where, at the beginning, I couldn’t do anything,” said Ringer.
“I couldn’t walk, lost use of my arms, and now I can hike and bike and swim, and I don’t know what tomorrow has.”
His training will carry him up the mountain for the big event Sept. 13, concluding with an afterparty at Kelowna Beer Institute, where the fundraising continues.