Chatham-Kent residents raising funds for muscular dystrophy

By Aaron Hall – Daily Post Editor

A group of 15 Chatham-Kent residents will be heading to London on Friday (May 1) to take part in “Jesse’s Journey” a fundraising walk for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Called the “Walk Across Canada in A Day”, Chatham residents Rick and Elizabeth Gardiner are taking part in the efforts, as their five-year-old son Andy battles with the disease.

“Donations are still being tallied but I believe we will be presenting a cheque to John Davidson for between $8,000 and $10,000,” Rick said. “I am quite proud of this total because when I set out I thought raising $5,000 would be have been quite an accomplishment.”

Rick credited a couple local fundraisers at various Chatham-Kent restaurants as instrumental in reaching their total.

“Our restaurant fundraiser “Save Room for Dessert” was very successful, as well, Radiance Spa’s “Back In a Minute” fundraiser, both added nicely to our totals,” he said. “We also held a couple of very successful barbecues and the cafeteria at Union Gas sold brownies for our cause. Barb Dawson (of the Chatham-Kent Fire Department) has also jumped on board and has collected pledges from the 19 different fire stations throughout Chatham-Kent.”

More on the walk

The Walk Across Canada in a Day is the major annual fundraiser for Jesse’s Journey, which funds research to find a cure for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Since the founder, John Davidson, walked across Canada, from April 1998 to January 1999, The Walk Across
Canada in a Day event taking place Friday, May 1 in London ‘s Springbank Gardens, has become an annual event.

Walkers can do the entire 33 km route, or any part of it, raising pledges for Jesse’s Journey to continue to help fund research.

The reason the walk is a 33 km route is because that is the distance that John Davidson walked each day when he walked across Canada, for a total distance of 8,272 km.

More than 5,500 people will be taking part in the walk this year. The goal is to surpass last years total raised of $223,000.