Join the D2E Expedition!

You may remember New Zealand’s John Dennis from my story Ordinary Man, Extraordinary Journey and my following interview, Daring to Express with John Dennis. John’s struggle with depression became an oft-painful journey of self-discovery as he struggled to understand how depression affected him, along with the stigma that too often prevents men and women from seeking the help they need. John now spreads awareness about depression, trauma and mental illness through Expedition dare2express, his upcoming solo, unaided expedition to the South Pole!

My inspiration has come from the darkest moment of my life actually. Back in early 2013, my life took a horrible turn and by May 2013, I’d hit a wall and was staring down the barrel of severe depression and PTSD. A completely horrendous episode, though off the back of it, I’ve made some life changing thoughts and had some experiences that I’d never dream I’d have. Essentially my inspiration came from my wife who stood by me at the worst and helped me through. Her helping me, being patient with me and nurturing me gave me inspiration. It gave me a sense of purpose. – John Dennis

But he can’t do it alone. One of his major expeditions sponsors fell through suddenly (likely a familiar experience to the explorers among ExpeditionWriter’s readership!) and he’s now launched an IndieGoGo campaign to raise the last of the funds.

I contributed £20 this morning, every bit helps. If you are someone or know someone that suffers from depression, consider supporting John on his amazing mission as well. This is the first fundraising call I’ve put up on my blog, and may well be the last–I’ve been in touch with John, and I think he’s doing something very special about a too-often overlooked subject.