More than 3 years in the planning, on March 20th,
2001 the ‘Round the World Challenge set off from Parliament Hill, Ottawa Canada
in an attempt for me to become the first quadriplegic to circumnavigate the
world in my modified truck. Importantly,
the project was the platform to raise awareness about the many urgent issues
facing people with disabilities while generating funds for spinal cord injury
rehabilitation and research.
Through a hugely successful international multimedia campaign
we managed to reach more than 100 million people and raise over $1M for our
cause. While many articles covered the
project from start to finish, one that stood out from the rest and really
encapsulated the entire “feel” of the
challenge was a feature length piece written by Hans Posthuma for Canadian Disability magazine in their
Fall/Winter edition of 2001. I am
grateful that Hans has agreed to let me share this story in its entirety and as
published with all of you.
I’m pleased to inform you that we have just completed a 1
hour reedited version of our documentary film which chronicled the entire project. My gratitude goes out to Derek Prosser, our
AV Adviser and Editor for all his hard work in telling our story in a much
tighter time frame while still managing to capture the various milestones,
relentless challenges and overall themes of the project. If you’d like to learn more about this unique
project please click on the following link www.roundtheworldchallenge.com