Hiking for hope: Vestavia man to walk from Alabama to Maine to fundraise for pediatric cancer research

When his daughter Janie died at the age of 5 after battling leukemia, Dan Sims dedicated the rest of his life to honoring her memory and raising money for pediatric cancer research.

That journey is now set to take him from Talladega to Maine, a 2,600-mile hike along the Appalachian Trail that he hopes will highlight the need for pediatric cancer research and provide millions of dollars in new funding.

Sims, a Vestavia Hills resident, said while he’s taken part in marathons and hiked many miles before, this will be the longest hike he’s ever done. But the journey will be worth it if he can help children like Janie, who died in 2003.

One year after he and Janie’s mom welcomed twin boys that were 10 weeks premature, Janie was diagnosed with leukemia. She was treated for 15 months before passing away in 2003.

“It blindsided us,” Sims said of the diagnosis.

Janie had been running a fever, so her parents took her to the doctor, who delivered an ominous message.

“Within 15 minutes (of doing blood work), they got really quiet and said, ‘You need to go to the emergency room,’” Sims said.

The emergency room admitted them immediately, and they were quickly told Janie had leukemia.

“You’re scared to death as a parent,” Sims said.

Treatment was not easy, as chemotherapy weakens the immune system in an effort to kill cancer cells without killing the patient, Sims said.

“It’s like you’re walking a tightrope 100 floors off the ground with no safety net,” he said.

While Sims put on a brave face for Janie, walking through that time was gut-wrenching, he said.

“You keep a positive attitude for her,” Sims said. “At the same time, you’re being eaten alive from the inside.”

Janie, though, never complained. She was, even while undergoing treatment, “fun to be around and easy to love,” Sims said. She woke up with a smile on her face and genuinely enjoyed life.

“Right after Janie completed some of her early intense rounds of chemo she came home from the hospital and learned how to ride her bike without training wheels at 4 years old,” Sims said. “She was up for horseback rides and was the first to get on the rollercoaster. Janie loved to sing in the car and Kenny Chesney songs were her favorite.

“She lived her life and did not let the cancer get in the way. Whatever challenges and hardships that I will endure on my 2,600 plus mile journey will pale in comparison to what Janie had to go through after her leukemia diagnosis,” Sims said.

She was one of those people to whom other people naturally gravitated, he said. She, the middle child between the twin boys and her older sisters Haley and Anna, was the “glue” in the family, Sims said.

So when Sims began to prepare for next year’s hike, he knew he could not let anything stop him from honoring his daughter.

“I don’t care what obstacle, this is something I’ve got to do now,” he said.

Going through his daughter’s treatment prepared him for the journey that he plans to begin in January.

“There’s so many parallels between going through cancer with a child and doing a thru hike,” Sims said.

Like he’ll have to do on the hike, Sims said he learned to do what he had to do to take care of his daughter.

Sims will start at Flagg Mountain, the beginning of the Pinhoti Trail that eventually connects to the Appalachian Trail through the Benton MacKaye Trail, adding 408 miles to get to about 2,600 total miles of hiking.

Sims will carry all of what he needs on his back and will have to make stops in towns along the way to reload. He’s also going during winter, where the elements could be more of a threat. And 2,600 miles is a lot more than the 26 he has run in many marathons.

“It’s not a marathon,” Sims said. “It’s 100 marathons. It’s you and the elements.”

Sims knows that parents who have gone through similar struggles may be able to find a commonality with him, and he hopes they’ll donate, along with many others.

“You never forget another parent or child,” Sims said.

If each of Alabama’s roughly 5 million residents gave $2 to pediatric cancer research, that would mean $10 million toward the cause, Sims said.

“You’ve raised $10 million without blinking an eye,” he said. “This is a lottery you can’t lose.”

Sims is starting by donating $2,000 out of his own pocket, which is symbolic because about 1,000 children are undergoing cancer treatment in the state right now, he said. He’s giving $2 for each of them.

It’s not possible to be fully prepared or fully trained for dealing with childhood leukemia, and the same goes for such a long hike, Sims said. He has watched videos and purchased equipment, but 99% of it is just getting out there and doing it, he said. Only about 20 to 25% of people who attempt to hike the entire Appalachian Trail make it, he said.

Just as his daughter stayed in not-so-comfy hospital rooms, the ground on the trail isn’t always the softest landing spot either, he said.

Looking back on his time in the hospital, Sims said other families with sick children become like family, which is similar to the family hikers build on long trails like the Appalachian Trail.

“We trust our lives to strangers and then we call them family,” Sims said. “No one does anything truly alone.”

Sims knows his idea to raise $10 million for pediatric cancer research might be seen as crazy. But he’s OK with that, because, as Steve Jobs once said in one of his favorite quotes, those are the kinds of people who make a difference.

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes … the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules. … You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things. … They push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do,” Jobs said in 1997.

To give, visit Sim’s GoFundMe at gofundme.com/f/alabama-pediatric-cancer-fundraiser.