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Sea to Sea for PTSD makes stop in Thunder Bay

Jun 20, 2022 10:47AM ● By Content Editor
Photo: Chad Kennedy (right) and his team. Justin Hardy

By Justin Hardy - TBNewsWatch - June 17, 2022

Chad Kennedy, who is walking “Sea to Sea for PTSD” is making a pit stop in Thunder Bay for the weekend before continuing on his quest to make it to the Atlantic Ocean while raising awareness about post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Everywhere we go the support is so great," he said after arriving in Thunder Bay on Friday. "It’s not just limited to the police, it’s EMS, it’s fire, it’s our veterans, corrections, doctors, nurses,” said Kennedy. “Doesn’t matter what we wear, you know, the battle with post-traumatic stress is real and it affects everybody.”

Friday was the 74th day of Kennedy’s walk which began in Cranbrook, British Columbia on April 4 and is planned to end in St. John's Newfoundland on the first week of October.

“Everything to me is just an amazing blur. It’s a really great way to see all the good side of humanity across the country,” said Kennedy.

“So, day 74, here we are in Thunder Bay and we get to relax here for the weekend so it’s just a perfect way to end a perfect week.

Thunder Bay is known as the place where Terry Fox stopped his run and Kennedy says that Fox, among others, is truly inspiring to him.

“To be here, where the Terry Fox monument is, is, to me, really amazing. Terry Fox has been an inspiration, I think, for many Canadians,” he said.

“So when I was going through my dark moments, I’m like, man, Terry Fox did something, he was just a guy, Rick Hansen, Joe Roberts, you know, three big people that I look up towards for strength, and, like everybody, I’ve got somebody I look up to, role models, and just getting out and doing it, it’s pretty amazing.”

Kennedy says that the message he hopes that people take from this is that it’s okay to not be okay and that it’s okay to ask for help when you’re going through your darkest moments.

Sea to Sea is also encouraging people to walk part of their trek along with them as they make their way across Northwestern Ontario on Hwy 11/17 as they head east across the region leaving Thunder Bay on Monday.

For more information on Sea to Sea for PTSD, or on how you can lend a hand, visit their website.

If you or someone you know is a first responder in need of support, call 1-833-677-2668 or visit www.bootsontheground.ca for peer-based support.


To see the original report and read related stories, follow this link to the TBNewsWatch website.

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