Gary Averbach left Calgary on a mission. The 79-year-old real estate mogul, based in Vancouver, is currently trekking through 40-degree heat waves across the Rockies from Calgary to his home city to raise money for cancer research. He's about three-quarters of the way there—his goal is to arrive home by mid-August, just shy of his 80th birthday, and to have raised $500,000 in the process.

The project stemmed from a promise Averbach made last summer to his late cousin and business partner, Robert Golden, who passed away from bone cancer. After Averbach lost two more cousins and his housekeeper to cancer this spring, he decided to embark on the journey to raise money for a good cause, while also ticking off a bucket-list adventure.

Averbach spoke to The CJN Daily from Boston Bar, B.C., around 45 kilometres south of Lytton, where he stopped after completing another daily 24-km hike.

What we talked about:

Follow Averbach's journey
Find Miriam Libicki's comics on her website, or read about her in The CJN (from 2017)

Credits

The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.

At nearly 80 years old, Gary Averbach is trekking 1,000km across Canada for cancer research