FALL RIVER/ENFIELD: A young woman’s 200-kilometre walk to raise funds for families impacted by Huntington disease (HD) included walks through Fall River, Enfield and Shubenacadie as she made her way from Lower Sackville to Amherst.
From May 30 to June 2, Brianna Voss took on the extraordinary 200-kilometre walk from Lower Sackville to Amherst, Nova Scotia, to raise funds for families affected by Huntington disease (HD).
With a fundraising goal of $50,000, Brianna’s journey is deeply personal.
She was just four years old when her father was diagnosed with Huntington disease. He began showing symptoms at 31 and passed away in 2019 at the age of 47. Her family has also lost her grandmother in 1999 and her aunt in 2022 to the disease.
Only months after her father’s passing, Brianna’s younger brother, Connor, was diagnosed with Juvenile Huntington disease at age 17, after years of symptoms that were initially misdiagnosed.
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Brianna later chose to undergo genetic testing and learned she does not carry the gene mutation that causes Huntington disease.
“A heavy amount of survivor’s guilt came with my negative result,” says Brianna. “I feel a responsibility to never stop advocating, raising awareness, and fighting for those affected.
“One day, there will be a treatment, and it will be because of people like you.”
Brianna’s walk is a powerful call to action, raising awareness and critical funds while honouring her family’s journey and the broader Huntington disease community.
She kicked off the walk at Sackville Lakes Provincial Park in Lower Sackville on May 30, then walking 45 km to Shubenacadie.
On May 31, she went from Shubenacadie to Truro on Hwy 2 for approximately 50 km.
June 1 she was to go from Truro to Wentworth-Oxford for about 60 km.
The walk was scheduled to wrap up in Amherst today June 2.
For more information or to support Brianna’s walk, please visit https://p2p.onecause.com/voss-family-walk.
