TWO HARBORS, Minnesota — "I am so tired," Mike Shoreman – the self-described "unbalanced paddler" – tweeted on his social media account Tuesday.
It's not surprising he was exhausted, having started out more than eight hours earlier on the southern shore of choppy Lake Superior.
He expressed pride in his accomplishment, saying "I did it, Canada."
The Whitby, Ontario man proclaimed himself "the first athlete with disabilities to cross Lake Superior from Wisconsin to Minnesota."
It's the third Great Lake that Shoreman has managed to paddle across while raising funds and awareness for youth mental health programs and services.
He plans to take on Lake Michigan later this month, and Lake Ontario in August.
Shoreman was diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt Syndrome in 2018.
Its symptoms include partial paralysis, fatigue, vertigo, and hearing and vision impairment.
The sudden neurological condition left Shoreman physically and mentally unbalanced, and the former professional paddleboarder was told he would never paddleboard again.
"I think most of us who turn the hobby or passion of paddleboarding into a profession are lifers. My identity was stripped away and I felt lost for a long time. Mentally, it was the toughest thing I've ever been through," he said in an online article last year.
Now he's using his story about overcoming adversity to inspire others to take on their own obstacles.
Shoreman is currrently raising funds for Jack.org, which describes itself as the only Canadian charity that trains and empowers young leaders to revolutionize mental health.
