Two summers ago, Shaun Evans ran from Seattle to New York with his 11-year-old son, Shamus, who has cerebral palsy. Now the pair can add another major milestone to their list. Shaun and Shamus just ran down the entire Mississippi River, more than 1,700 miles, in 29 days. Bigger than that, they donated 18 adaptive running chairs along the way.

“How I look at it is Shamus is the athlete, and I get to lend him my legs,” Shaun told us a few months ago. “And I know there are other people out there who think the same thing. They want to lend their legs to their child, or even to their parent.”

With a strong support crew lead by Shaun’s wife, Nichole, and their youngest son, Simon, the family set off in an RV to travel from Moorhead, Minn. to Lake Charles, La.

 

The purpose of their trip was multi-faceted. Along with putting in 60 miles per day, the family, also known as Power2Push, had the chance to spend quality time together, gift mobility to other families along their route and promote the message of inclusion on behalf of Ainsley’s Angels, a Louisiana-based non-profit which helps people of all ages and abilities participate in endurance events.

Here’s a look at one of the chair presentations.

If you’d like to learn more about the Evans Family, check out our exclusive with Shaun shortly after they finished running across the country. You can also keep up with them on Facebook and on Twitter (because keeping up with them on the actual road would be a huge challenge).