In 2013, two brothers from Rockwood hatched a crazy plan- and followed through with it. Nate Douglas and his brother, Ron, decided on a whim to walk from Bangor to Boston to raise money for childhood cancer research. That night, they formed a Facebook group, invited a thousand friends, and then immediately wondered what the heck they were thinking. Still, by splitting the miles amongst the two of them, the Douglas brothers pulled off something many would think impossible…and all for a good cause.

   Since then, Nate has gotten his EMT license, spent several years in Howland getting real-life experience, and even traveled to Ukraine at the start of the war to help train citizens, the military police, and politicians how to do basic combat casualty care. Nate just completed his first year of nursing school, and has also recently lost 274 pounds.

   Now a few years older, and wiser, Nate is once again going to walk from Bangor to Boston for a good cause, but this time he’s doing it solo (because apparently, he doesn’t have enough on his plate). That’s right- Nate won’t be walking with hundreds of people, a group, or even his brother. This entire journey was Nate’s idea and not affiliated with any larger organization or fundraising event.

   He reached out to Boston Children’s Hospital, pitched his idea, and they loved it. Nate will be funding his own journey, including food, overnight stays and several pairs of sneakers. All donations will go directly to Boston Children’s Hospital’s Extraordinary Needs Fund, which is for families that live in New England but outside of Massachusetts and have a child receiving care at BCH.

   Starting August 4, Nate will be walking about 15 miles a day for 16 days (I’ll save you the math- that’s 240 miles) and plans to “stroll into Boston Children’s,” on the 20^th.

   While Nate jokes that he’s going to get a great tan and a great workout for a good cause, this journey actually goes much deeper than that. “This walk is supposed to represent the people that do this trek all the time,” Nate says. He explains that he’s going to be walking for 16 days, and there might be days that are miserable, but there are parents who are going through more than any of us can imagine who don’t have a choice but to make the trek.

   “They have to do the trek, I can do the trek,” Nate says, explaining that the point is to symbolize what these parents have to do, some of them without money for gas, a hotel stay, food or basic needs. People often think of the medical bills, but there are so many unseen burdens when one has a child in need of medical care.    You can help Nate and, in turn, families in need, by scanning the QR code or by going to this link: http://secure.childrenshospital.org/goto/DouglassBrothers