Anne Young:
Staying motivated on the road to Santiago
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This September, four friends from B.C. will hike the Camino de Santiago, raising awareness about HD along the way. We caught up with them as they prepared for their epic journey.
Anne Young admits she was hesitant when her friends started talking about doing the 800-kilometre Camino de Santiago, a traditional pilgrim’s route through France and Spain. “My initial thought was ‘oh my, you must be crazy,’” the retiree from the Okanagan Valley recalls.
Hiking 24 kilometres is challenging enough. Now imagine doing that every day for more than a month, trekking over the Pyrenees, bunking with 50-plus other hikers and getting by with two pairs of underwear.
In the end, Anne agreed, knowing that making the journey with her friends will help her to put one foot in front of the other. “It’s a personal challenge,” she says. “For me, that’s what it’s all about.”
Anne is also motivated by the opportunities they’ll have to educate other travelers about Huntington disease. During their walk, she and the rest of the group will be wearing buffs bearing the “Team HD” logo to help strike up discussions about the disease.
Anne understands the need to raise awareness for lesser-known causes: her brother died from a rare genetic heart condition, while Anne herself needed a bone marrow transplant to treat aplastic anemia. “The more rare a disease is, the less attention it gets,” she says.
Perhaps Anne’s biggest inspiration comes from her Camino companion Ellie Smith, who has seen many family members die from Huntington’s. “She’s tireless, and she’s upbeat,” Anne says. “She somehow puts a positive spin on it all and does what she can to make people aware, and how can you not follow that?”