Pedalling along long stretches of lonely roads, an Ontario man is biking across Canada to raise money for the Hospital for Sick Children in memory of his young cousin who died last year of a brain tumour.
Corey Alexander Thompson's cousin Maddie Costantini was diagnosed in 2013 with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), a rare type of cancer, when she was just 10. According to Sick Kids Hospital, DIPG has no effective treatment and is "almost universally fatal."
Maddie passed away last year.
Her death inspired Thompson to embark on his cross-country trip to raise money for the Toronto hospital ahead of Meagan's Walk, an annual five-kilometre fundraiser on Mother's Day that raises awareness about brain tumours.
Thompson, who spends much of the year working on a private yacht, says he wasn't able to be there for his cousin when she was sick so he wanted to do this in her memory.
"She was an amazing child," Thompson said in a phone interview Sunday afternoon from Fort Frances, Ont. "She was completely normal and then all of a sudden she was sick."
Thompson started his journey on July 18 in Vancouver and has so far raised nearly $2,700.
He cycles on average more than 100 kilometres a day while lugging 50 lbs of gear on his bike. Most days he finds a spot to camp before retiring for the night, but he's also stayed in motels on a few occasions.
Thompson says the beginning of his journey, when he was biking through the mountainous regions of British Columbia, was particularly difficult. The 28-year-old has also had to battle the elements, often pushing his body to its limit.
"What a wet, cold and miserable day today was," Thompson wrote in a July 26 update on his Facebook page. "Definitely a mental and physical challenge today. Was on the road at 9 a.m. as it was raining quite a bit."
Despite the challenges, Thompson said his trip has inspired him to "live every moment like it's your last."
He says plans to reach St. John's, N.L. by mid-September.
