How far would you go to keep aside a painful disease and follow your passion?
Andrew Crosby, a student at Middletown High School North in New Jersey was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at the age of 16 and was told that he might not be able to walk by the age of 30! Not only that, but he was also prescribed a high dosage of medication.
What did he do? He thumbed his nose at all that and he said “I don’t let this disease stop me from anything,”.
He stayed active and involved in his favorite hobbies of hiking and climbing for the next decade, but there were times when the intermittent back and joint pain caused by his condition would become severe and incapacitating. Towards the end of 2021, a new indication arose, which involved the eyes painfully swelling, occasionally leading to blurred vision. “That was when I decided I was going to hike the Appalachian Trail,” he said, “and nobody was going to tell me no.”
On the 9th of March, a year ago, Crosby began the 2,200-mile, 14-state hike from Georgia to Maine which he completed in just a little over five months – enduring the freezing cold of 5 degrees, scorching heat of 105 degrees, and facing a potentially dangerous situation with a pack of coyotes.
It was surprising how the 26-year-old Middletown resident overcame rheumatoid arthritis and completed a hike where annually about 3 million people visit the Appalachian trail, of which around 3,000 attempts to “thru-hike” the entire length — a task that is completed by 25%, or less than 1,000.
This wasn’t the first time Crosby was hiking this trail. He had accompanied his father as a young boy and hiked a section of the trail in Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, he lost his father in 2015 when a roof collapsed during a demolition in Berkeley and walking the trail only brought back fond memories - “Being out there for so long, I felt I was connected to him. I knew he was looking out for me the entire time. He always had my back.”
The hike wasn’t hunky dory. Crosby spent a week laid up with shin splints. sustained two broken ribs in a mishap, constant soreness from walking 30 miles a day and the crisis of facing coyotes.
But this was more of a grueling, long-term pilgrimage which convinced him that the the experience served as nature’s medicine. In fact, he feels 25% – 35% healthier than how he felt when he started.
In coming July, Andrew Crosbey now plans to attempt the Pacific Crest Trail which is a 2,600-mile hile from Canada to Mexica – not only to follow his passion and health but to spread the message that one should never give up and never doubt oneself and push through – only then one would know the limits one can push.
How inspired are you feeling today?
Think we missed out on something? Tell us about it in the comments below. Or write about it here on Tripoto and earn Tripoto Credits!
And be a part of the largest online community of travellers on Tripoto’s Facebook page!
