On A Hike For Abby

This young lady is my friend Abby. She is very intelligent, talented, witty, and tough (thanks to her younger brother Seth!) I have known her and her family for quite a while, and they are amazing people full of love and compassion for others.

Abby has been diagnosed with Mitochondrial Disease. The mitochondria is the power-plant of your body's cells. If the mitochondria mutate, the cells may die. This causes all sorts of serious health problems depending on where the defective cells are. Her older brother Jack also had the disease, and passed away at the age of 7. Abby is doing well with treatments, but it has been a really tough journey for her and her family as they travel to see specialists and they struggle with the mountain of medical bills.

Lots of people raise money for causes by walking, cycling, or even playing video games. Hiking over 2000 miles should be worth something too, right? For every mile I hike, I want to raise one dollar to help pay for Abby's travel expenses when she has to go to Cleveland, Ohio for treatments.

You can see my hiking progress in the map on the left, and Abby's progress on the right. I will probably average about 15 miles a day, so if you want to match me you should give $15. Double that if you want to match my dog Kooper too! Who will reach the end first???

If you would rather donate to a non-profit instead of directly to Abby, check out The UMDF or MitoAction.