Don Wells may be tired, sore, limping and one year older, but he’s happy he was able to complete his third Journey of Hope recently.
The Wallaceburg area resident managed to walk a portion of his 160-kilometre journey from Port Lambton to Windsor, wrapping up the fundraising and awareness effort on his 66th birthday.
He broke his right leg in late May, a month before he embarked on the walk, but still managed to collect more than $8,000 in donations to the Canadian Cancer Society for childhood leukemia.
“If I hadn’t been laid up for a month, I think we would have made $12,000,” he said. “I don’t have the figure for what people donated online to the Cancer Society, but I know we ended up with more than last year.”
Wells, who has prostate cancer, credited his crew with helping along the way and walking when he couldn’t.
“I already know I’m in trouble with my surgeon in London for doing any walking but I think he’ll forgive me.”
Last year, Wells undertook a 2,100-kilometre E-Bike journey from Wallaceburg to Kingston to Owen Sound and back home to benefit breast and prostrate cancer. He raised more than $5,000, but believes the awareness factor had a value several times that amount.
Wells’ journey began in Port Lambton June 22. He travelled through Walpole Island, Wallaceburg, Dresden, Chatham and Windsor (at the Brentwood Recovery Home) and ended at the Windsor Tunnel.
Brentwood has special meaning to Wells, as it was at that facility he found sobriety more than 30 years ago.
He said it’s too soon to tell if he will undertake another journey, but whatever life holds, he won’t be idle.
“I need to rest for a while and get everything stabilized,” he said. “When I’m feeling better there will be something for me to do. There are lots of issues out there.”
