Running on Hope and Healing: A Convo Under a Tree with Trevor Redmond
Trevor Redmond
The Fellow in Yellow with his push-cart, at the campgrounds in Redcliff, Alberta
It’s not every day you meet someone who can light up a 56-degree desert afternoon with the energy of a whole band. But that’s what happened when I sat down under a wide, shading tree at a campground in Redcliff with Trevor Redmond — a man known across Canada as The Fellow in Yellow.
Dressed head-to-toe in his signature bright yellow, Trevor is instantly recognizable. But it’s not the outfit that makes him stand out — it’s his story, and the way he tells it. We shared over an hour together in the shade, talking about trauma, recovery, resilience, and even belting out a few lyrics of Great Big Sea.
Now 54, Trevor is a high-energy presence with a quick laugh and a storyteller’s instinct for drama, humour, and truth. But his story begins in pain — at age 15, he was struck by a car in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, and nearly lost his left leg. He spent a month and a half in hospital, endured a year and a half with an open wound, and went through more than 10 surgeries.
“Most teens don’t look down and see their bones,” he said, pausing to let that sit. “But I did. Every day.”
That experience planted a seed in him — what he calls a hospital dream. "You start dreaming differently when you're in there," he explained. “Your priorities shift. You don’t dream small. You dream survival. You dream healing. You dream impact.”
A Movement for Movement
Trevor’s “hospital dream” evolved into a mission. He’s walked and cycled more than 35,000 km across Canada — yes, thirty-five thousand — to raise awareness and support for health, mobility, and recovery. His journey began with a single hard truth: he had to move to survive.
“I said at 33, ‘never again will I lose a day of work to my back.’ I started exercising, and that saved my life. Literally.”
By July of that same year, Trevor had dropped 30 pounds and was walking distances many healthy people wouldn't dare. “Into October, I walked 49 kilometers in a day, training for my first cross-country trek. I didn’t just talk the talk — I walked the walk.”
And he’s been walking ever since.
Trevor’s message is clear: “Mobility is medicine. Whether it's physical, emotional, or psychological — movement helps.” This is why he’s called his campaign The Movement for Movement — a mission to inspire people, especially those recovering from trauma, to keep going. One step at a time.
CPTSD and Tough Love
Our conversation dove deep into the psychology of injury and recovery. Trevor brought up the idea of Complex PTSD (CPTSD) — not just from a single traumatic incident, but from extended hospital stays and the emotional toll of recovery.
“You don’t just heal bones,” he said. “You have to heal fear. Heal loneliness. Heal identity.”
CPTSD and Tough Love
“He saw me wheeling down the hall and barked, ‘Get up off your ass. I didn’t put that leg back together for you to be wheeling around feeling sorry for yourself.’”
One pivotal figure in his story is Dr. Patrick McDermott, the orthopedic surgeon who helped reconstruct his leg. Trevor remembers one hallway moment like it happened yesterday:
“He saw me wheeling down the hall and barked, ‘Get up off your ass. I didn’t put that leg back together for you to be wheeling around feeling sorry for yourself.’”
It was harsh — and it worked. That mix of tough love and human empathy stuck with Trevor. “He later spoke to me like a peer — not a patient. Like someone who believed in me.”
Trevor carries that balance forward, urging others with mobility issues to fight for progress with both grit and gentleness. “Tough love and soft love — you need both to get people moving.”
Yellow: The Colour of Courage
The bright yellow he wears isn’t just a fashion statement. It’s a symbol.
“Yellow stands out. It’s happy. It’s visible. And for me, it honors the 25th anniversary of Rick Hansen’s Man in Motion tour — we wore yellow jackets that day.”
Trevor never met Rick Hansen as a teen — his accident happened just days before Rick rolled past his house in Stellarton. But 25 years later, they finally crossed paths.
“Rick came up behind me and said, ‘You’ve come pretty far yourself.’ I told him, ‘Not as far as you, Rick — I’d have to run across Canada and back.’ He looked me in the eye and said, ‘You can do it.’”
So he did.
Health, Hope, and Every Step
Today, Trevor is still walking. Still riding. Still advocating. He’s contributed over $10,950 to the Dollar A Day Foundation, supporting grassroots mental health and addiction services across Canada. He wants every Canadian to understand: mobility is for everyone.
“Every step counts,” he says. “Even if you're just running on the spot. It’s about exercising your mind, body, and spirit. That’s the cure. Or at least, the beginning of one.”
The Path Forward
“Don’t go looking for happiness,” he said. “Look for joy. Little things”
He knows he’s lucky — not just to have survived, but to have regained the use of a leg doctors once doubted could be saved. “Welcome pain,” he says with a grin. “Because it means the leg is still there.”
The Path Forward
As we sat under that tree, a slow-moving shadow tracing the ground around us, I asked Trevor what he tells people who feel stuck — by pain, by fear, by trauma.
“Don’t go looking for happiness,” he said. “Look for joy. Little things. Like yelling at a bird in a tree. Like sitting in the shade after a long walk. That’s joy.”
Trevor Redmond — the Fellow in Yellow — is a man who has literally walked through pain, and kept on walking. And he wants the rest of us to know: you don’t need to cross Canada to change your life.
Sometimes, the next step is enough.
Follow the Fellow in Yellow’s journey across Canada and support his cause for health, mobility, and recovery. You can learn more at https://www.facebook.com/thefellowinyellow
