Piedmont, AL – William Galloway has been crisscrossing America on a three-wheel recumbent bicycle since October 2017 to bring awareness to an important topic to him. His latest stop was Piedmont, Alabama. This is his 13th trip across America. William Galloway hopes his journey will have people talking about brain injuries and getting people the help they need. “I got tired of the negatives and not knowing what to do so I decided to take off on a bicycle for my own good and that of others with disabilities because when nothing else is working, you have to go make it happen yourself.”
After the accident he said, “It’s just so frustrating because I wanted to take it out on the guy that hit me, take it out on the system,” said Mr. Galloway. “I didn’t ask for this on the side of my head.” He said the next ten years felt like a constant uphill battle as he moved from the hospital to an assisted living home to a group home. Eventually, he said lost his job and struggled to find another. He finally decided to go back to what he loved before the accident. “I’ve been a bicycle nut ever since I was a kid,” said Galloway. “I love bikes.” He never looked back.
He said Mr. Gump is just one of the nicknames people around the country call him. “I had some elementary school kids call me Bicycle Bill,” he said. Mr. Galloway said his bike is his life as he hasn’t lived in a traditional home in five years. “Been crisscrossing across America since 2017…38,000 miles, three bicycles, five trailers is where I’m at right now,” he said and it’s all about raising awareness for a health issue that’s near to his heart. “My real goal the first time across was to get to a place called Amen Clinic,” Mr. Galloway said. “It’s a place for people with brain and mood disorders. I got hit by a drunk driver when I was 43. I’m 60 now and for everything I went through in the medical field, I shouldn’t be out here.”
He said the road and his bike are the best medicine for his condition. From city to city, he hopes to bring attention to people with brain injuries. “Some people just want to just hear your story. Some people say, ‘You inspire my son’ or ‘You inspire my wife,” he said and every mile he wants to support other traumatic brain injury survivors. “Sometimes they’re on the edge just to give up because they want their life back,” said Mr. Galloway, “and that’s what hurts. That’s what hurts with me too. If anybody knows anybody like that, give them the benefit of the doubt. Understand what they’re going through, what they didn’t ask for.” He also said that, as the saying goes, life is unpredictable – like a box of chocolates. “You never know what you’re going to get.” If you’d like to donate to Mr. Galloway’s cause visit this link for more information he raises money on GoFundMe, PayPal, and Venmo to repair his bike and pay for places to stay overnight.
