Man with Cystic Fibrosis urges active lifestyle on Island cycle-run tour
Published 5:30 am Tuesday, August 4, 2026
William Savage, left, is acting as Darren Kerr’s support crew as they head down Vancouver Island for a run/ride raising awareness of cystic fibrosis.
(Karl Yu/News Bulletin)
Trekking down Vancouver Island on an awareness-fundraising run, Darren Kerr wants people to know running and cycling can mitigate the effects of cystic fibrosis
Diagnosed with the genetic disease, which produces thick mucus leading to lung damage, when he was three months old, Kerr is nearing the end of an 11-day trek which started in Port Alberni on July 22. He is raising awareness and research money for the disease and had to adjust on the fly after suffering a foot injury, he notified followers in a July 28 social media post
“We knew that we wanted to get back out the next day,” Kerr told the News Bulletin. “We looked at Facebook Marketplace, found a bike, got it that night, and then we went to Walmart. Was looking around at some bike supplies, and we saw this bike that I’m riding now, and I was like, ‘Wow!’ I was honestly surprised that Walmart had a bike like that. So then we we switched to that, got it tuned up, hit the road.”
Exercising allows him to live as normal a lifestyle as possible
“Before I started running, my lung function was about like 75 per cent and then since running, it’s 95 per cent, so physical activity has helped me dramatically,” he said. “Right now I live, I would say, a pretty normal life. In and out of the hospital sometimes, you can never predict that, but overall, my health and the (active) life that I live has really impacted me with CF.”
Kerr said he’s had to make some adjustments as he has switched transportation methods
“I’ve never biked 80 kilometres in a day … I mean, biking on the highway, that’s something I’ve never done before as well, so that creates another challenge for myself, and I think the fact that I’m going from one point, all the way to the end and being as physically active as possible is a huge accomplish accomplishment, whether it’s biking or whether it’s running,” he said
Kerr also stresses the importance of getting out and getting exercise
“I would say whether you have CF or even if you’re just a normal person, I feel like it benefits everybody, you know,” said Kerr. “The physical, the mental health, both aspects, everybody should just get out and run, bike, whatever you want to do.”
Kerr and his support team were scheduled to take a rest day in Duncan Friday, July 31 and go “full bore,” with the journey ending Saturday, Aug. 1 in Victoria
For more information, or to donate, go to https://gofund.me/507144fb1
karl.yu@nanaimobulletin.com
