Headline Magazine - Fall 2011

Check out David's story in the Fall 2011 issue of Headline Magazine (pg 14) 

http://brainstreams.ca/sites/default/files/2011FallHeadline.pdf

DAVID McGUIRE'S RUN ACROSS CANADA

Blogs |Bob Steele 
DAVID McGUIRE'S RUN ACROSS CANADA 
Oct 27 , 2011
 

As I got in to work this morning, I got an email from the manager of a fundraiser for a brain injury awareness and fundraising event called A Run To Remember where David McGuire has set out to run a marathon a day across Canada to create a movement and change the face of brain injury in our country.

David McGuire suffered a brain injury a few years back and doctors told him he may never walk again. So instead, he decided to run. Run across Canada. He'll be in Calgary this weekend, and you can learn more by watching this video:www.youtube.com/watch

He'll be running mostly on the Trans-Canada and you can track his progress with this map:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=202288709298358440596.00049779827a3600e0388&msa=0

GOOD LUCK DAVID!

McGuire travels through Southwest during A Run To Remember

Published on October 24, 2011

With little fanfare, David McGuire is nearly seven full months into a cross Canada run to raise awareness of the plight of individuals living the rest of their lives with brain injuries

McGuire, who suffered a brain injury in 2005, has completed the Saskatchewan portion of his cross country A Run To Remember, where he is running a marathon a day for brain injury awareness and fundraising. He began his effort in the Maritimes on April 1, and he anticipates finishing the trip by mid November.

He was in Swift Current on Oct. 14 to receive a special proclamation from the city before completing the Saskatchewan portion of his run on Oct. 20.

McGuire has been hampered by short term memory problems following a brain injury which damaged his temporal lobe. This permanent damage has impacted his short term memory, so his recall of information has been impacted. It also robbed him of his precious memories of past events, and he can not recall the specifics of many day to day activities.

"Information goes in I just can't pull it out when I want it to come out. If it's an old, established memory, like something that I learnt before my injury, I'm generally O.K. If I can relate it to something that I've done in the past I'm O.K. But for me to learn a new task it doesn't stick anymore," he said during his stop in Swift Current.

While not an athlete before his brain injury, he is passionate about not being on the sidelines and accepting things as they are.

"I got really pissed off at being told what I could or could not do," he said, noting that at the age of 35 he found himself having to be driven everywhere, he is unable to live alone, and he was not trusted to drive or cook or even walk.

"It really sucked to have a head injury. I'm considered high functioning, and if it sucks this much for me, what's it like for that guy who had a terrible car crash that is going to be a vegetable for the rest of his life. There's no resources out there. And that's sort of what stuck me really hard."

He has channeled those emotions and turned them into enthusiasm for bringing awareness to brain injuries and encouraging people to prevent injuries through good decision making. He pointed out that 175,000 Canadians receive some form of brain injury every year, and youth are at the highest risk for brain injuries.

"So if 90 per cent of brain injuries can be avoided by putting on a helmet - it's like a seat belt in a car, you just do it."

"Why would anybody take that risk knowing now what I know."

"If I can get one kid to put on a helmet we're good."

McGuire summed up the Saskatchewan portion of his run in three words, "Flat and windy", he laughed without hesitation.

"It's my first time being to the prairies. It's beautiful. The sunsets are remarkable...you can see in every direction and the colours are amazing."

"What sticks to me are extremes," he said. "So I remember being in Newfoundland and running up this hill that was probably about the size of Saskatchewan itself. These aren't hills here. I was running up this hill that what seemed like for a day and it was whiteout conditions."

Additional information on the run is available by visiting www.runtoremember.com.


http://www.swbooster.com/Living/Well-being/2011-10-24/article-2785309/McGuire-travels-through-Southwest-during-A-Run-To-Remember/1

Running for Brain Injury

posted by SBIA   |   October 16, 2011 18:02

The journey of a thousand miles began with a man on a mission and one foot in front of the other.   

David McGuire has hit the ground running in the Run to Remember fundraising campaign. The B.C. native has joined forces with non-profit organization BrainTrust Canada to raise money and awareness for prevention strategies and to develop supports for Canadians living with brain injury.

“This is probably our biggest awareness and fundraising campaign that we’ve taken on, in a national sense,” said Melissa Wild, run manager with BrainTrust Canada. “Brain injury needs to be more in the public eye and there needs to be better funding.”

While donations are being pledged daily, Wild said proceeds raised are upwards of $60,000.

“The public awareness and public response has been really great. They’re really picking up on it.”

According to BrainTrust Canada 483 people per day suffer a brain injury. It is the leading cause of death and disability in those under 45.

McGuire says inspiration for the cross-country run came from his own brain injury sustained in 2005.

“I went to our local brain association and they had closed down. I walked home literally crying because there were a lot of people who were much more disabled than I was and I just wanted to do anything I could to help.”

It is unclear whether McGuire suffered a stroke, brain bleed or hit to the head, but after seven days of unconsciousness he awoke to a hospital room, a body full of tubes and the absence of memory.

McGuire was told by medical professionals that he may never be able to walk again, but soon after began running to speed his recovery. In 2006, one year after his brain injury, McGuire completed his first marathon.

While the 38-year-old has been rehabilitated, his short term memory has never been restored. The Run to Remember campaign name holds special significance and reflects the memory problems and challenges that affect those faced with brain injury. 

McGuire struggles with remembering simple tasks such as putting on his shoes, setting his training watch or finding his way home.

“If I don’t shave my head, you don’t see the scar down the side of my head and you just think I’m a weird guy that walked into your store and can’t remember what he’s there for.”

McGuire began his Trans-Canada journey in St. John’s, Newfoundland on April 1. Seven months into the run, he says he hopes to reach his final destination, Victoria, B.C., by the end of December. With cooperative weather and flat lands, McGuire says the Saskatchewan leg of his journey has been an “extraordinary” one. 

“I totally love it. Being out here- it’s stunning. I’ve never been here before and I’m blown away. It’s really beautiful out here.”

For more information, or to make a donation, visit www.runtormemeber.com or text “brain” to 45678 to contribute $5 to the campaign.

A marathon a day for brain injury awareness

After sustaining a brain injury in 2005, David McGuire has been inspired to spread the message of brain injury prevention and awareness. The Trans-Canada run has raised approximately $60,000 for BrainTrust Canada. Photo by Andrea Nicholl

Published on October 15, 2011

Andrea Nicholl  
The Grenfell Sun

David McGuire is running 40 kilometres a day for nationwide prevention and support

Topics : 

BrainTrust Canada 483 , B.C. ,Newfoundland , Victoria

The journey of a thousand miles began with a man on a mission and one foot in front of the other.   

David McGuire has hit the ground running in the Run to Remember fundraising campaign. The B.C. native has joined forces with non-profit organization BrainTrust Canada to raise money and awareness for prevention strategies and to develop supports for Canadians living with brain injury.

“This is probably our biggest awareness and fundraising campaign that we’ve taken on, in a national sense,” said Melissa Wild, run manager with BrainTrust Canada. “Brain injury needs to be more in the public eye and there needs to be better funding.”

While donations are being pledged daily, Wild said proceeds raised are upwards of $60,000.

“The public awareness and public response has been really great. They’re really picking up on it.”

According to BrainTrust Canada 483 people per day suffer a brain injury. It is the leading cause of death and disability in those under 45.

McGuire says inspiration for the cross-country run came from his own brain injury sustained in 2005.

• 

“I went to our local brain association and they had closed down. I walked home literally crying because there were a lot of people who were much more disabled than I was and I just wanted to do anything I could to help.”

It is unclear whether McGuire suffered a stroke, brain bleed or hit to the head, but after seven days of unconsciousness he awoke to a hospital room, a body full of tubes and the absence of memory.

McGuire was told by medical professionals that he may never be able to walk again, but soon after began running to speed his recovery. In 2006, one year after his brain injury, McGuire completed his first marathon.

While the 38-year-old has been rehabilitated, his short term memory has never been restored. The Run to Remember campaign name holds special significance and reflects the memory problems and challenges that affect those faced with brain injury. 

McGuire struggles with remembering simple tasks such as putting on his shoes, setting his training watch or finding his way home.

Brain injury needs to be more in the public eye and there needs to be better funding.- Melissa Wild

“If I don’t shave my head, you don’t see the scar down the side of my head and you just think I’m a weird guy that walked into your store and can’t remember what he’s there for.”

McGuire began his Trans-Canada journey in St. John’s, Newfoundland on April 1. Seven months into the run, he says he hopes to reach his final destination, Victoria, B.C., by the end of December. With cooperative weather and flat lands, McGuire says the Saskatchewan leg of his journey has been an “extraordinary” one. 

“I totally love it. Being out here- it’s stunning. I’ve never been here before and I’m blown away. It’s really beautiful out here.”

For more information, or to make a donation, visit www.runtormemeber.com or text “brain” to 45678 to contribute $5 to the campaign.

sunnews@sasktel.net

Canadian runner: 7 provinces down, 3 to go: UPI - Canada

TORONTO, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- David McGuire, Canada's "marathon a day" runner, entered his eighth of 10 provinces Sunday, having covered 3,500 miles to raise awareness about brain injuries.

McGuire, 38, has been running 25 miles a day since April 1, going from Newfoundland to British Columbia, where he expects to end his effort in late November.

Sunday, he left Manitoba and entered Saskatchewan, accompanied by run manager Melissa Wild of the non-profit Braintrust Canada of British Columbia.

With his hair kept very short to show the large looping scar on the left side of his head where doctors removed part of his skull to alleviate swelling after a stroke in 2005, McGuire has been stopping along the way to speak at schools, amateur and professional sporting events and community groups to raise awareness about the severity -- and avoidability -- of head injuries, particularly among youth.

In Canada and the United States, there is growing attention to the long-term effects of concussions among professional athletes, which McGuire told UPI is bolstering his message to children and teens involved in sports.

"Kids don't want to look weak when they get hit on the head," he said. "In the past, they'd just 'shake it off' and get back to playing as soon as they could."

When he speaks to youth, McGuire shows the scar on his head, describes coming out of a coma after days and shocks many of them by describing the severe impairment to his short-term memory.

He uses humor in describing how he's managed to keep his morale up after running nearly every day since April 1.

"We figure I can run every day because I forgot that I ran the day before," he said. He also jokes that "there's no such thing as TV reruns for me."

Wild, McGuire's run manager, has many jobs, including keeping David informed and reminded of progress and public appearances. She also alternates trailing him in a donated car and motor home. and also acts as media liaison.

Asked last week if she had ever felt discouraged in the first six months on the road, she laughed.

"At least five times we've asked each other 'What are we doing?'" she told UPI. "But it's all good -- we've established a rhythm."

McGuire acknowledged that many days running through the remote portions of northern Ontario into Manitoba were lonely. Sometimes a small town would reinvigorate him.

"Out of the blue, an entire school would overwhelm us with welcomes," he said.

Wild coaches McGuire on statistics before each of his appearances, such as brain injury kills more Canadian children under the age of 20 than anything else and men from 16-24 are most likely to suffer from a traumatic head injury.

The run is mostly on target to wind up in Victoria, British Columbia, in late November, some 7,230 kilometers -- 4,492 miles -- from its start.

Meanwhile, the fundraising effort is behind schedule. Magda Kapp, Braintrust's director of communications, said despite a growing number of corporate sponsors and individual donors, donations have not yet covered the estimated $150,000 cost of the project.

The www.runtoremember.com Web site not only shows how to make tax-deductible donations for Canadians, but features a daily blog by McGuire. For fellow marathon runners, a location tab also lists McGuire's daily running heart rate, weather and wind conditions and elevation.

© 2011 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/10/02/Canadian-runner-7-provinces-down-3-to-go/UPI-78941317561271/#ixzz1Zq0IMXrs

Article Reposted: 

http://story.torontotelegraph.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/71df8d33cd2a30df/id/49054837/

http://themes.thestar.com/article/05qRdec3pe9yd

http://www.citiadr.idmanagedsolutions.com/news/global_story.idms?type=scrolling&ID_NEWS=206838740

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=upiUPI-20110930-142709-7894&show_article=1

http://www.daylife.com/article/05qRdec3pe9yd

http://www.fta-friends.info/showthread.php?t=8728

http://www.emrupdate.com/blogs/news/archive/2011/10/02/canadian-runner-7-provinces-down-3-to-go.aspx

http://topic.worlds-luxury-guide.com/article/05qRdec3pe9yd?q=Canada

http://celebrityflux.com/music/canadian-runner-7-provinces-down-3-to-go/