Walking 100,000 steps in a week seems like a lot to many people, but how about 100,000 in a single day?
A New Brunswick man plans to do just that this weekend to help raise money for diabetes research in Canada.
Gilles Heppell said when his friend, Bill Macfarlane, passed away in February, his obituary asked people to do random acts of kindness in lieu of flowers.
“After doing a few acts of kindness, I felt that it just wasn’t enough,” the Saint John man said in a recent interview.
Heppell said he was talking to his daughter about what she wanted for her birthday, and she suggested he give money to diabetes research.
His daughter, Jen, has lived with Type 1 diabetes since being diagnosed with the disease at the age of eight.
“I can do acts of kindness for multiple people and do something for my daughter also, so that’s how I decided to do the 100,000 steps,” said Heppell.
Gilles Heppell visits the Irving Nature Park in Saint John as he trains for his 100,000 step walk. (Image submitted)
Heppell, who turns 65 in June, acknowledges that 100,000 steps in a single day are “a lot of steps.”
A 2017 study of more than 100 countries revealed Canadians walk an average of 4,819 steps per day — just under 34,000 a week.
To prepare for his 100,000-step walk Heppell began upping his daily step count a few months ago with a goal of hitting 100,000 steps a week.
“I had been walking normally about 3,000 to 6,000 steps a day normally, so I decided to walk about 10,000 to 15,000 steps a day. I’ve been doing that since March 7th,” he said.
“The odd weeks, I’d up those steps. One week I did 20,000 steps in a day and a few weeks later I did 60,000 steps in a day.”
Heppell and his family have turned to the online crowdfunding website GoFundMe as they try to raise $5,000.
The money, he said, will go to the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation Canada, which is funding cure-based research by Dr. James Shapiro and his team at the University of Alberta.
“They’re trying to change Type 1 diabetes patients’ own blood cells into insulin-producing cells that could be returned to them. If successful, this treatment could remove the need for anti-rejection drugs altogether,” said Heppell.
“I’ve walked and spoken to a lot of people who have diabetes or know or someone who has diabetes and I’m just hopeful they’ll find a cure.”
Heppell will embark on his 100,000 step walk on Saturday, June 4. You can make a donation to his GoFundMe page by clicking here.
