PUNXSUTAWNEY — A Butler area native embarking on a month-long cycling trip to raise funds and awareness for cystic fibrosis (CF) made his last stop in the Punxsutawney area Thursday before taking the final leg of his tour home.
Brian McCandless, 21, West Sunbury, a student at Slippery Rock University, said not only does he seek to raise funds and awareness, but also to show those who have CF that it’s not the end of their life’s road.
“I’m doing it to show other people that have been diagnosed with CF that it is something that can be beaten,” he said.
At two months of age, McCandless was diagnosed with CF, a life-threatening, recessive, genetic disorder that creates a blockage of airways in the lungs because of extra-thick mucus production leading to problems with breathing.
The pancreas of a person with CF is not proficient in enzyme production, therefore giving a person with CF poor digestion.
“When I was younger, I didn’t know how to listen to the body, what things I could eat and couldn’t,” he said. “As I got older and went to school, I better understood what the body can handle and what it can’t.”
He also learned that exercise is an excellent activity for someone with CF. Punxsy native Justin Skarbek — who married McCandless’ sister, Nicole —turned McCandless onto cycling, which is an all-encompassing physical activity and excellent cardiovascular workout, which can help a person with CF clear up the mucus that hinders breathing.
McCandless’ 2008 trip — he took a similar trek last year, raising $14,000 — began at Pittsburgh and proceeded to DuBois and the Jersey Shore before heading north, hitting towns such as Scranton; Kingston, N.Y.; Albany, N.Y.; Putney, Vt.; and Concord, N.H., before arriving at his final destination, Augusta, Maine.
McCandless hasn’t been alone on his trip. Skarbek traveled with him for the first three days, and McCandless’ girlfriend, Emily DiMatteo of Annapolis, Md., has driven a van with necessary supplies. She usually rides the last couple miles with him, as well.
Friday morning, McCandless and friends and family left Punxsy for the last leg of the trip and back to Slippery Rock for rest, celebration and today — making an exact month that McCandless started his journey — a presentation to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of the funds raised thus far, as donations will continue to trickle in over the next few weeks.
The cycling party prepared for its next-day trip at a family location along Skarbek Road, Bell Township, Thursday evening.
McCandless said he averaged about 100 miles per day in Pennsylvania and between 75 and 80 miles per day in New England, where destinations are closer together.
Even over this strange summer, the weather has been kind.
“We’ve done pretty good with the first half of the trip,” McCandless said.
“We have sunny days, and on the way back, we rode into everything.”
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