This year marks the 10th anniversary of Max’s Big Ride. We started in 2015 when Andrew rode 600 km from Parliament Hill to Hamilton with 4-year-old Max in a cargo bike to help create better outcomes for those living with Duchenne muscular dystrophy - and he’s ridden this 600 km every summer since - for a total of 5400 km so far.

As you know, Duchenne is a progressive disease and Max, who just started high school, requires more constant care - and Andrew, well, he’s just gotten older. 

We’ve enjoyed tremendous support from our community since we shared our story, so this year, in addition to your donations to research at the University of Toronto, we need your help to complete the ride itself.  

Can you donate some muscle power to the ride this year? Every kilometre you walk, run, ride, or roll during the week of the ride (Sept 15-21) will directly reduce Andrew's daily total. Your physical activity will make a real difference in supporting Max (and Andrew) and will help spread awareness about our cause.

How does it work? It's simple! Please message us at andrew@maxsbigride.com with any kilometres you do between Sept 15-21 and we’ll subtract them from the grand total of 600. You can do it more than once during the week – all kilometres count and are very much appreciated!

Want to do more? Send us a picture of you exercising and we’ll share it on social media – or you can share it yourself and explain why you are doing it (please tag Max’s Big Ride!). This will help raise awareness around Duchenne.

Finally, if you feel so inclined, please make a donation to the Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Research Fund at the University of Toronto - and maybe encourage your friends to do so as well. 100% of all money received goes to help find better outcomes for those living with Duchenne like Max. The money we raised last year is going towards three new Duchenne projects at U of T and we hope to fund some exciting research around Duchenne and artificial intelligence this year. The link to donate is at the top right of this page in red.

Max’s Big Ride is a not-for-profit organization created to fundraise, raise awareness and advocate for better outcomes for those living with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Max’s Big Ride is named after Duchenne muscular dystrophy patient Max Sedmihradsky. In 2015, Max and his father Andrew started riding their cargo bike 600 km between their home in Hamilton and Ottawa to draw much-needed attention to the fight against Duchenne muscular dystrophy and they’ve continued this ride every summer since.

Max’s Big Ride fundraises for the Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Research Fund at the University of Toronto and University of Toronto Mississauga. One hundred percent of the money received goes directly to fund research being conducted by the Gunning Group Lab at UTM and PRiME Fellowships or PRiME Clinical Catalyst Fellowships offered by UofT.

‘Be strong’. Sometime last year, I started whispering ‘be strong’ in Max’s ear when I hugged him goodbye - but really, I think those words were for both of us. It is so hard to watch your child struggle daily against Duchenne and I’m sure things are so much harder for him - but Max rarely complains.

To him, I hope ‘be strong’ meant having the strength to ask for help if he needed it, to try as best he could to accomplish the small things others may take for granted and to have the tenacity and positive attitude needed to get through his day.

To me, ‘be strong’ is a daily reminder to push all the negative thoughts that sometimes feel like they can consume me and promise to do one small thing that day to help fight this devastating disease.

Andrew - Max’s dad

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