N.B. man hitchhiking across Canada for cancer research reaches Northwestern Ontario
A New Brunswick man is hoping his thumb will help to raise $100,000 for cancer research.
Twenty-year-old Quinn Strang, who is a cancer survivor, is hitchhiking across Canada to raise funds.
He was first diagnosed with cancer when he was 15 years old.
“I was diagnosed with stage four cancer. I had Ewing Sarcoma in my left femur, and it spread to my lungs and lymph nodes. I didn’t catch it till pretty late, so I probably shouldn’t be here today. After a gruelling nine-month battle involving chemotherapy and radiation, I was declared cancer-free. But I relapsed in grade 12, and then I had to get a femur transplant,” Strang explained.
Following that, he was valedictorian at his high school graduation, where he told his story.
Three years later, on May 17, Strang started his cross-Canada journey in Newfoundland. He plans to follow the same route as Terry Fox did on his Marathon of Hope, hitching rides along the way.
He spent Sunday night in Thunder Bay, and on Monday, he is headed for Kenora.
“There are just beautiful people all around, and I’m trying to showcase that as well,” Strang expressed.
“I have a propeller hat on and a sign, so I hope that makes me look more friendly, and people are more keen to pick me up.”
Strang added that he has found that if you smile, you’re more likely to get picked up.
He hopes to complete his cross-country journey by mid-June, but without a set schedule and not knowing when he’ll get picked up and how far they’ll take him, he is just taking it day by day.
“You just take it as it comes. I kind of live my life with a go with the flow philosophy. I just kind of see where the day takes me. I do try to set minor goals for the day. I’m on the road for 10 to 12 hours. So I just kind of see how far I can get. It really is a gamble. You could be waiting two hours for a five-minute drive, or you could be waiting five minutes for a two-hour drive, right? So I do kind of set little goals though,” Strang said.
Quinn has been in remission for almost 3 years, and his family says he wants to give back to the IWK hospital that did so much for him, along with the Terry Fox Foundation for research in the hopes of finding a cure.
A GoFundMe page has been set up, and as of 8 am Monday, over $67,000 had already been raised.
You can follow Strang’s journey on Facebook and TikTok.
