KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A Jefferson County man is hiking to end childhood cancer. His treks have already raised $200,000.
What started as a hobby for Frank Gioscia quickly turned into a life-changing mission. There isn't a hike he doesn't like. He said that he is currently going through all the trails in the Great Smoky Mountains for the twelfth time.
Summiting Mount LeConte is what reeled him in years ago. Some of his friends suggested he and his wife should tag along for the journey.
"We hiked up there and I was hooked," Gioscia said. "I got rid of my golf clubs, and I have been hiking ever since."
But it wasn't until 2011 that he found a bigger purpose to fuel his steps.
"He is a wonderful, giving, generous man that we are honored to have as part of our program," said Jennifer Murphy, the national director of campaign development for CureSearch. "Our mission is to drive targeted and innovative research in an accelerated timeframe with measurable results for children's cancer."
CureSearch is a nonprofit, whose goal is to end childhood cancer. One of their biggest fundraising efforts is called the Ultimate Hike.
"Our Ultimate Hike program is in its 12th year of telling children's cancer to take a hike," Murphy said.
The fundraising initiative consists of seven national hikes throughout the year.
"In that program, people hike 20 to 30 miles in one day," Murphy said. "Each participant has a fundraising minimum of $2,500."
Frank blows that goal out of the water every year. Last year he raised $52,000.
"Frank is our All-Star," Murphy said. "He is literally top of the class of the amount of funds. He's raised over $200,000. It all goes towards pediatric cancer research. He's amazing."
Every drop of that money goes toward helping kids who need it most, said Murphy. It's something that gives Frank peace.
"It's gratifying that people do care about it," Gioscia said. "It makes me sleep good at night knowing that people are going to donate and help us out."
CureSearch even created a special award to honor his strides.
"We really created the Everest achievement in honor of Frank because he was the first one to reach $50,000," Murphy said. "Now he is a four-times Everest, which really the amount of funds he's raised, it should get compared to that."
Each step is personal for Gioscia.
"I really never had children that had cancer until my daughter's friend had a son that had eye cancer, and so I started hiking for him," Gioscia said.
That young boy is in remission now, but that didn't stop Frank from hiking more and more.
"I think if you're 80 years old, or 75 years old, and if you had cancer, you lived a lot of life, but when you're just 4 or 5 years old, you haven't even gotten started yet," Gioscia said. "I think that's where we've got to raise money to help these kids have a full life. That's important."
He says he'll keep trekking along until he physically can't anymore.
"I guess until my legs wear out," Gioscia said. "I hope I'm doing enough."
Each time Frank crosses that finish line, CureSearch knows his humble nature will continue to make change too.
"The ultimate height program has raised over $8.5 million, so the fact that Frank alone has raised $200,000 of that is an incredible, incredible testimony to his work," Murphy said.
From the mountaintops to the valleys, Gioscia says he would like to see more people participate in the ultimate hike. Knoxville is an official training city for the Southeast. That means you can join other hikers to do practice hikes, training hikes and be part of the community.
The Southeast route is on the Foothills Trail in North and South Carolina in November this year.
If you don't want to be a part of an Ultimate Hike weekend, you can always use the trails and scenery in your own backyard to tell childhood cancer to "take a hike."