A cancer survivor’s journey to help kids fighting the disease

WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH, NC (WWAY) — In Wrightsville Beach, a man made his first stop on Saturday, as part of long sea journey to raise money for the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation.

“When I get home, it will be worth every nickel.”

That’s the motto Captain Scott “Red” Flowers carried with him as he arrived in Wrightsville Beach to cheers, music and food — a welcome for a man taking on a journey that will span thousands of miles across America’s waterways.

The Great Loop Challenge is a nearly 7,000-mile boating journey connecting the Atlantic Coast, rivers, canals, the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico.

But for Flowers, the journey is about much more than the miles. It’s personal.

Flowers is a cancer survivor who battled stage 4 melanoma, a form of skin cancer. During his treatment, he and his wife saw firsthand how many children were also fighting cancer.

“When we were there, we saw the pediatric, we right across the hall, it said pediatric, we were there doing Easter, Christmas, I couldn’t believe how many children were in the hospital,” Flowers said.

Those children stayed with him.

Now, years after surviving his own cancer battle, Flowers is using the thing he knows best — boating — to help children who are still fighting theirs.

His goal is to raise more than $1 million for pediatric cancer research.

The campaign has already raised more than half a million dollars but completing the journey will be no easy task.

Aaron Stasiak, with the Qualified Captain, a social media account with over a million followers, and has been featured on WWAY for viral boating videos, knows just how challenging the route can be.

“It’s not easy. There’s a lot of tight channels, up and down the Mississippi, there’s a lot of shipping traffic. So when you get to Mississippi, it gets weird. They’re going through the lakes, the lakes get really nasty,” Stasiak said.

For Flowers, though, the rough water, long days and exhaustion are worth it.

He says this journey isn’t really about him — or even setting a record.

It’s about the children he saw fighting for their lives.

“We are just trying to prove a point here, and it don’t take a giant donation. Those kids are willing to keep fighting, I’m going to keep doing this,” Flowers said.

For any donations, head to the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation’s website.