I am 10 days away from starting my walk across Saskatchewan! My school year is all wrapped up. It is always a little sad at the end of the year knowing that another year is gone but there is also a sense of accomplishment and fulfilment.
My campaign is going very well. I am over 70% towards my stated goal and still haven’t started the walk yet. Also, there have been a couple of interesting developments. Some folks are concerned about my safety and well-being and as a result, have been working towards potential sponsorship so that I have a pilot vehicle, places to rest at night, and proper nutrition. I will have a formal announcement with details once it is all in place, but isn’t that cool?
What is Huntington Disease (6)?
Quick Facts:
- 1 in 7000 people in Canada has HD.
- 1 in 5500 Canadians is at risk of developing HD.
- 1 in 1000 Canadians is affected by HD in some way.
- A direct genetic test to determine if an individual has inherited the HD gene was developed in 1993. Most people at risk do not get tested.
- Huntington Disease is an autosomal dominant inheritance. This means if you inherit the HD gene you will get the disease.
Featured Town:
Unity is a town with a population of 2389 people. It started as a small settlement in 1904 and was the subject of a 2001 award-winning play about the 1918 flu pandemic. It is 59 kilometres from Macklin, meaning that I will likely be in Unity on July 11.
Check here for a list of things to do in Unity. It is a good list.
Training Update:
I have started to limit the kilometres that I am putting on in training. I might as well save them for July 10.
One very large upside of just walking is being able to see the countryside. I used to run the same routes when I would be training for running events or just jogging, but I never enjoyed the scenery as much when I ran as opposed to when I now walk. Here are some pictures:
Did You Know:
At my height (5 feet, 11 inches) on flat terrain, the horizon will be about 5 kilometres away. Therefore, in order to make it across Saskatchewan along my route, I will have to “walk to the horizon” about 140 times.
Most Listened to Song on My Playlist:
Nothing Compares – Third Day
I am going back to Third Day for this one. For some songs, you immediately want to pick up a guitar and play along. This is one of those songs.
I did, in fact, pick up the guitar to play this song, but instead of playing the original A, E, F#m chord progression, I switched to G, D, and Em (In fact my computer even knows I don’t like playing any other chords so it just automatically transposes for me now.) As I started playing, it reminded me of this 1998 Semisonic song.
Please visit my fundraising page at the Huntington Society of Canada.
You can also follow me on Twitter (@gshwaga). Please retweet so that my campaign updates get in front of as many people as possible.
You can also follow my event on Facebook: @Greg’s Walk for Huntington Disease
Just Learn 