Edmontonian Sonny Davis was diagnosed at age five with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a type of muscular dystrophy characterized by loss of muscle tissue and touch sensation, predominantly in the feet and legs but also in the hands and arms.

At the time, he wouldn’t have seemed like a prime candidate to be setting out a quarter-century later on a 7,000-kilometre cross-country wheelchair trek.

But Davis, who trains every day, began his Marathon of Freedom wheelchair tour Sunday in Oak Bay with a Walk for Muscular Dystrophy event at Willows Beach.

Thus began his bid to roll across the country while raising consciousness about the disease, inspiring others and shooting for a fundraising target of $50,000 to combat muscular dystrophy. The 30-year-old intends to finish the tour in about five months in St. John’s, Nfld.