SYDNEY, N.S. — As his life’s journey comes to an end, John McIntyre feels it’s time to take a 700-kilometre trip down memory lane.
In 1979, McIntyre, who was born in Dominion, decided to walk from Truro to Glace Bay and back to honour his father, John Sr., who had been confined to a wheelchair after his spine was crushed in a 1954 rockfall at the No. 26 coal mine in Glace Bay.
“It had a great impact on me — I was four at the time,” recalled McIntyre, 71, who is in the late stages of terminal brain cancer. “He was away for two years with his injuries. By the time he came back home, I was scared of him — I didn’t even really know him. It was scary for a while until I came around and got comfortable with him and then I accepted the fact that he was my father and he was in a wheelchair and that was the way it was.”
While working as a counsellor at the Nova Scotia Youth Training Centre in Bible Hill outside of Truro, McIntyre — then 30 — decided to pay tribute to his father and help other people who had been paralyzed. So, on June 26, he and colleague Harold Perro, 25, set out on a two-man walkathon from Truro to Glace Bay, with half of the money going to the Canadian Paraplegic Association on behalf of McIntyre and Perro’s share going to the Nova Scotia Heart Foundation in the name of his father, who had died of a heart attack.
“I just figured we could do it a day at time,” McIntyre said of the expedition down Highway 104, which ended when they returned on July 26. “It was hard. We tried to cover 25-30 miles a day but some days it was easier than others because of the weather. It was hot.”
The pair spent a few nights along the way in hotels but most of the time they camped in a tent in the woods near the road. They faced adversity along the way — including nearly being run over by a tractor-trailer and McIntyre limping along on a badly swollen ankle for five days — but he said they also experienced a lot of hospitality from people who invited them into their homes for meals and honks of encouragement from passing truckers and motorists who had heard about their mission.
McIntyre’s daughter, Belinda McIntyre, said she recalls when her father finally returned home to Truro and a parade was held in his honour. She said the walkathon stands as one small example of how he dedicated his life to serving other people.
“He’s helped so many, so many people. I think of it often and I remember it so fondly because I remember feeling so special that day — especially when he had the parade when he came back to Truro. There were bagpipes, and it was something really special,” she said, adding that he looked quite different when he returned.
“He left without a beard and he came back all like Grizzly Adams.”
Despite his illness, McIntyre has continued to live life to the fullest and just two weeks ago married his partner of 20 years, Sharon Lynds-McIntyre.
“I wouldn’t be here without her,” he said.
McIntyre said his father’s strength and determination and his mother’s caring and compassion shaped him into the man he became.
“My dad seemed to cope with it. He was very active, and even though he was in a wheelchair, his upper body strength was extraordinary. He played basketball and he eventually got his own car — he was very active,” he said. “I think growing up the way I did, my mom looked after my dad most of his life — she was his caregiver — so I think I got some of it from that.”
He said his goal in life was simple — “just do for others — that’s all” — and that he wants to be remembered in similarly humble terms.
“Just as a good person,” he said.
