Now 43, Mealing is one of four wheelchair athletes who recently completed a trek across Canada to raise awareness and funds for human trials on spinal cord regeneration.

Although he's glad his cross-country journey is over, Mealing isn't finished raising awareness for the cause. But first, he's taking some time out to rest.

"Physically I was alright, but it was nice to get home to sleep. You don't know what you're missing until you're back in it," he laughed.

Mealing left the coast of Victoria, B.C., June 10 and reached Mile 0 in St. John's, Nfld., on Sept. 5. From there, he hit the road in a van and arrived home in Crystal Beach three days later.

Mealing said he was greeted the same way across the country as "Everyone was very giving. They just wanted to help out every way they could."

Among all of his experiences, Mealing said the highlight came at the end.

"When we got to St. John's to see the other end of Canada and we looked right over the Atlantic ocean ... that was it."

There were many times he wanted to go home, but Mealing kept rolling, reminding himself of the rewards to be gained by the end of the journey.

"There were times when I could see where I was going for miles and thought, 'I don't want to go that far -- it's just too far.' What I learned was don't look off in the distance. Just look down and keep going."

Mealing said despite the ups and downs, he'd do it all over again. Maybe not next year, but he would love to advocate the same cause again.

Mealing is paralyzed from the waist down and has had to use his chair since he was injured on a ride at the Crystal Beach amusement park on July 22, 1982 at the age of 18. He said at the time of his injury he thought his life was over, but with help and encouragement from family and friends, Mealing has since participated in numerous marathons.

Before the trip out west, he had never left Niagara.

While the athletes well expended their energy travelling all day from the early hours of the morning, they kept their minds set on a more important goal: to raise $10 million for spinal cord regeneration research.

Dr. Michel Rathbone and his team of researchers at Hamilton's McMaster University are close to a breakthrough cure for spinal cord regeneration, which would see primitive cells reprogrammed, enabling a paralyzed person to walk again. However, $1 million is needed to sustain current research which could enable paraplegics to walk again.

Mealing is currently working on his next goal: to hold the world record for the longest wheelchair wheelie.

The current record for keeping a chair's front tires off the ground is 13 minutes and Mealing plans to make it 20.

"It's all about balance," he said.

For more information or to contribute to the cross country tour visit www.wheeltowalkcanada.org.