Young American wants to break a record and travel 80,500 km in 100 days to support research into childhood cancer

Ethan Guo is 19 years old and, for now, has two goals in mind: to break the record for the youngest person to fly solo across the world’s seven continents and to raise donations for childhood cancer research with the trip.

The young Chinese-American plans to cover some 80,500 kilometres in 100 days, stopping in 60 countries, and save a million dollars (about 9.2 million euros) in the process. The support will go to a research centre for children’s cancer, a disease diagnosed in stage 4 in a cousin. To achieve his goal, Guo intends to convert the curiosity created by the challenge into monetary support. To date, he has raised around 22,000 dollars (about 20.3 thousand euros), according to the Associated Press.

It all started when, after his relative’s diagnosis, the teenager contacted Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital to understand how he could contribute to the cause. “We had the idea of ​​how we can work together on this, how we can make this world a better place,” he explained to the AP.

In May, the idea took off: the plane piloted by Guo took off from Memphis, Tennessee. This was the start of a journey that was supposed to last 100 days. The teenager has already visited seven countries, arriving on Tuesday in the Swiss city of Geneva, from where he will depart for Heraklion, Greece. In fact, after turning 19 in July, he has already logged 700 hours of flight time and has already flown over all the states in the United States, except Alaska and Hawaii. Guo began learning to fly at the age of 13. However, despite the long hours he has already dedicated to hobby, Young people see the occupation as a personal challenge rather than a professional career; their vocation is oriented towards the areas of business and technology.

Despite the experience, the idea was not welcomed by all family members. According to him, his parents were very worried about the trip and tried to stop him from doing it, even trying to force him to fly with the help of volunteers and sponsors. Against all warnings, Ethan Guo went ahead with the project, preparing for any scenario. On the plane he carried equipment for the cold of Antarctica, a survival kit in case he got stuck in the desert, and an inflatable raft in case he landed in the sea.

But even with all the preparations, setbacks did happen… and right at the beginning of the trip. “Through my experiences, such as an engine failure early in the trip, I was forced to face the fact that I could die at any time during the trip. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared.”

The experience helped Guo realize that one thing remained constant: his motivation. “Every day I reaffirm: ‘This is what I believe.’ That’s why I will fight until the end.”