By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
The Fellow in Yellow who ran through town pushing a cart with big yellow signage drew a fair bit of attention as he made his way through the local community this week (September 17, 2024) – and that was the idea Trevor Redmond had in mind.
Undertaking his third cross-country journey (this time running), Redmond pursues a mission that has driven him for most of his 53 years – health, mobility and recovery for everyone.
“The more we move, the more we move others,” he told Today’s Northumberland’s Pete Fisher.
“I have moved up over 29,000 km. across this country, between an 11,000-km. walk, a 14,000-km. bike ride, and here I am currently, 3,650 km. down so far.
“People often ask me why I am doing this, and I say because I can. Because I have the ability to. That ability was almost taken away from me when I was 15 years old after being struck by a car.”
Redmond was in Halifax’s Victoria General Hospital for a month and a half as they battled to save a leg that had been shattered into 20 pieces, followed by a year and a half with an open wound down to the bone. He ended up in a stainless steel device that made him think of Frankenstein, meant to hold the bones together so they could fuse, followed by a more conventional cast.
The risk of being an amputee was very real. Redmond drew courage from the example of Terry Fox, however, and gave thanks that he hadn’t lost a limb – or several. To this day, he feels a deep empathy for people who have.
Another way of giving thanks has been to make the use of those legs. He would run around the streets of Halifax, sometimes a long as 16 hours at a stretch, sometimes limping by the time he made it home.
“Because you limp doesn’t mean you are broken,” he said.
“In fact, it displays you are not. And a lot of people are limping, and that’s great that they are showing that they have the interest in moving, and that’s what’s going to heal you. Because we heal as we move,
We heal as we move And that’s what I am out to do.”
Redmond admits to surprise at how far he has gone and points to a sign on his cart that celebrates everyone “actively, inclusively moving together.”
“The more we move, the more we move others, so let’s move Canada,” he urged.
The back of his yellow T-shirt celebrates the Fellow in Yellow and the kilometres he has covered.
“Support my run across Canada. I love you,” it says.
That cart (which he has affectionately named Brody) carries his camping gear, because he rarely overnights at a hotel. Even in 120-km.-per-hour gusts in Newfoundland, he slept in a tent.
He took the opportunity in Cobourg to stop at the Metro for supplies such as chips, bananas and baby food. That last choice, he explained, was because baby food contains fruits and vegetables but doesn’t require refrigeration. Anyway, he said, he preferred to call it astronaut food.
He averages about 26 km. a day.
People often ask him how long it took him to recover,
“I say I am still recovering. But boy, what a recovery! I am running across Canada injured. I always will be injured and I will always have to deal with that in my own special way.”
Redmond’s latest cross-country journey began on his birthday, March 26, but the idea isn’t just to cross a geographic nation.
“I am out to reach as many people as I can as I am running across Canada – I figure that is the most valuable thing I can do,” he said.
“My goal is, let all of Canada get to see what the Fellow in Yellow is doing,
“I think there’s a great value in just my presence dressed in yellow, running across this country – and yellow is a happy colour.”
As he ran through Quebec, he picked up a bit of French when he heard the word “courage” used a lot.
And he began seeing yellow hearts left on his social-media posts. He has begun to think of them as yellow hearts of courage, and to associate that colour with courage.
He recalled his first walk across Canada back in 2007 and how he found inspiration in that old saying that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. That step was taken in Vancouver, he said, and a thousand miles later he was nine km. east of North Battleford.
He would go on to the bike trip in 2009 and the one he is currently undertaking. And he finds people are supporting him in so many ways – the person who brings him an iced tea when he’s thirsty, for example, or the pick-up truck that stops beside him so the little girl in the passenger seat can give him a care package.
Over the last two weeks, he said, Brody collapsed completely but was fixed up by someone who knew some welding. In Deseronto, Brody’s frame cracked where the tire is attached, but another person welded that up. Near Trenton, he lost his wallet and a whole search party (including the local fire chief) turned out to help him find it.
These are a few of the many reasons his shirt says, “I love you.”
Expanding on this phrase, Redmond says it shows appreciation.
“You cannot love without appreciation,” he said.
“On the other side of this is the lazy side of this. That is where we get our hatred, We are ready to snap, making judgments, uneducated judgments really, that I hate this, I hate that person.
“And that’s it. Hate is for the lazy. Love is for the people that want to get out and really work it.”
For more information, visit Health Caring | themovement
