Max's Big Ride hits Sharbot Lake

Jeff Green | Jun 24, 2015

Max Sedmihradsky is a bright and funny four-year-old boy who loves to laugh. His parents, Kerry and Andrew, love him to bits.

Max was born in Australia and the family later moved to Hamilton, where Andrew had been raised. A couple of years ago, they noticed that although Max was very active and had high energy, he seemed to have trouble jumping and was a little awkward on his feet.

Doctors confirmed there was a problem and it was worse than Kerry and Andrew could imagine. Max has Duchenne Muscular Distrophy (DMD), a disorder that afflicts about one in 3,600 males. A degenerative genetic disorder, DMD continually restricts movement in people who have it, limiting their life span to about 25 years. There is no cure, so research is the only answer.

The news of his son's condition was understandably devastating to Andrew, but about a year later, he learned about another father who was facing the same circumstance, John Davidson. Some 20 years ago Davidson pushed his son Jessie across Ontario and began “Jessie's Journey” a non-stop fund raising campaign that has now raised $6 million for research into DMD.

One quote from John Davidson struck a chord with Andrew: “You can roll over and play dead, or you can roll up your sleeves and get busy.”

Max's Ride is Andrew and Kerry's way of “getting busy”.

The ride started in Ottawa on Sunday. Andrew is riding a bike that is fitted with a front cargo container on wheels. Max is the cargo. Andrew is riding along the Trans-Canada Trail from Ottawa to Hamilton and is bound and determined to get there by Canada Day. As for Kerry, she is providing all the necessary logistical support, driving ahead in a van, arranging food and lodging, contacting media along the way and helping Max's Ride make some money for research.

On Tuesday, June 23, that meant waiting at the Caboose in the Central Frontenac Railroad Park at noon, only to find out that the trail had washed out between Maberly and Sharbot Lake and Andrew was turning back and heading along Hwy, 7 until he could get past the washout. She headed out in the van to find her two men, and helped them figure out how to get to Sharbot Lake and get back on schedule as they were set to push on to Arden by the end of the day.

Just before 2pm they arrived at Sharbot Lake, in time for a photograph or two and a bite of lunch before heading off again.

“The best way for people to learn more about the ride is to go to Maxsbigride.com,” said Kerry. “It explains what we are doing and includes a map that shows their progress and talks about the journey.”

There is also a donation button on the site. All proceeds are going to Jessie's Journey, and will automatically generate a charitable tax receipt.

The money has been used for some promising efforts using cutting edge medical science to seek treatments for DMD.