Image Credit: Facebook / Jasan Doherty

By Jill Sperling

Riding for Mental Health

B.C. man with one leg takes on 1,000 km cycling journey for mental health

Jul 19, 2019 | 10:01 AM

KAMLOOPS — A man who grew up in Kamloops has returned to the city on his cycling trip from Calgary to Vancouver.

Jasan Doherty lost his right leg and the toes on his left foot 13 years ago when he was run over by a train.

“There was a train parked on the side of the road,” Doherty said. “I decided to jump on it and jump over it to the other side, and just as I stepped up onto it, it started moving, and I couldn’t tell it was going to move because I was listening to my music.”

As a result of the accident, Doherty has had to struggle not only with physical challenges, but his mental health as well.

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Now, the 47-year-old tattoo shop owner from North Vancouver is riding his bike for his own mental health and to inspire others who might be struggling.

“Right now I’m not raising money at all,” he said, “I’m just funding it myself, and doing it for my own mental health and to bring awareness to mental health issues for anyone else struggling and having a hard time. Also, to show my kids, mostly my 21-year-old and my 19-year-old boys that you get on doing something you can do it no matter what. You just put your mind to it and go for it, right?”

Doherty says people have been inspired by his journey.

“I’ve had people pull over on the side of the road and stop to talk to me while I’m taking breaks at rest stops and telling me how inspiring I am to them and that’s what I’m doing it for, I just want to make people think that it’s not so bad out there, things aren’t as bad as they could be.”

Having lived in Kamloops when he was a child, Doherty says the ride into this city was especially meaningful.

“Remembering all the times that I had growing up here, all the emotions I went through while I was riding here thinking about all of that, it was pretty awesome,” Doherty said. “That’s what keeps me riding, really, is all the levels of inner work that’s going on with the spirit and the soul.”

Despite the discomfort he experiences while riding, Doherty hopes to eventually ride right across Canada.