Noah’s March Has Landed in Texas

Imagine being diagnosed with a terrible auto immune disease before you can hardly even walk in life; well one young man is actually living this life.

Noah Barnes is an eleven year old kid that likes Legos, his puppy, and loves vanilla ice cream. Sounds like your normal everyday kid right, but there is one major fact that I left out. He has Type 1 Diabetes.

Noah was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when he was 16 months old, and was in the hospital for a week after being diagnosed. This is a disease Noah has been living with for practically his whole life, and definitely has not just taken it sitting down.

When Noah was ten years old, he came across an article about a diabetes walk fundraiser. After seeing this fundraiser, Noah went to his dad and asked "how far do I need to walk to be cured?" His dad answered that it doesn't work like that, but a documentary would give Noah motivation to endure on his own journey.

Noah watched a documentary titled Into the Wind about Terry Fox who ran across Canada in 1980 on one leg. Terry's documentary motivated Noah to convince his family to let him walk across the country to raise money for diabetes research.

Noah began this journey alongside his mother Joanne Barnes, his father Robert Barnes, a family friend Matt Nyland, little brother Jon Barnes, and little sister Angela Barnes.

Noah's March began on January 1, 2017 in Key West, Florida. Along this journey across the country, Noah Barnes and his family became quite notable when seen walking along roads. Many elderly women would stop and run out of their vehicles to hug Noah and wish him well on his journey.

Noah's family made huge sacrifices in order to be able to support Noah and make this walk across America possible. His family halted life, began homeschooling Noah and his siblings, and lived life on the road as he walked across the country.

Throughout the walk the goal was to raise money to help cure Type 1 Diabetes and also bring awareness to the disease. A disease such as this is something people like to shy away from, but Noah's walk has caused people to want to know more and also donate to help medical teams find a cure.

On December 9, 2017 Noah set a world record by being the youngest person to walk across America on foot. He marched 4,240 miles across America ending his march in Blaine, Washington at the US-Canada border.

With Noah's march across America done, he's leaving the traveling back across the country to his dad and Matt Nyland. Robert Barnes and Matt Nyland left from Santa Monica Pier, California and our traveling back across country on bike to continue Noah's March on bike.

Noah is still traveling across the country, but doing so inside the confines of a vehicle. Noah along with his mom and siblings, is traveling around the country talking to diabetes groups, researchers in the diabetes community, and also media.

I received a call from Matt Nyland earlier in the week that the family would be crossing into the Texas border this week. The family is presently in Austin, Texas and I had the pleasure of interviewing Noah and his lovely mom Joanne Barnes.

Noah is such a strong willed young man, and way wiser than his years would say. He's really eager to continue to raise money and awareness for Type 1 diabetes. Noah's strong will comes with a very strong support system with his family, and feeling like he has all the support in the world.

The family will  be headed to the Houston area next on their march back across America. Robert Barnes and Matt Nyland will be cycling across the country till they get to Savannah, Georgia.

The family will be in the Lone Star State till January 25th when they move on to Lake Charles, Louisiana. The plan is to be in the Houston area on January 22nd through the 23rd. Then head to Beaumont, Texas on January 24th.

So if you are traveling to the Houston area, make sure you keep your eyes and ears open for Noah's March passing thru in the Lone Star state. Most importantly, if you are interested in donating to Noah's March for help in the cure for Type 1 diabetes follow the link. Also in the link, you can get all of the inside scoops on the journey with Noah and his family.