Raising awareness one bike ride at a time: A Colorado Springs man bikes across America for his 8-year-old grandson

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO)--A Colorado Springs man is biking across America for his 8-year-old grandson who's in need of a kidney transplant. He started riding with his friend back in April and since then, they've gone through several states. 

John Norton is currently in Missouri, riding for his grandson who lives in Colorado Springs. He's hoping to raise awareness about living donors.

"I feel like I'm just going to be a lot more happy, " said Broderick Stoltz. "And like be able to play with my friends a lot more."

Since birth, the 8-year-old has faced health issues.

"He lost a lot of blood during the delivery process and when that happened his body thought that he was dying, so the liver and kidneys are the first organs that shut down when you die, so they started shutting down. Because of that the kidneys scarred heavily when he was being born," said Caitlin Stoltz, Broderick's mom.  

Currently, Broderick is on a waitlist for a new kidney, but it's been a slow process.

"So I would like to go out and spread awareness about living donors, where a kidney is an organ that can be transplanted from a living donor to a recipient," said Norton.

For now, the family is trying to get Broderick registered on the 'living donor transplant' list.

"We have ridden about 2,400 miles, we're currently in St Charles, Missouri, where we are taking a rest day. We rode across California, a bit of Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico, Kansas and now we are almost ready to exit Missouri," said Norton.

John and his friend expect to complete their cross-country journey by July. To keep up with their journey you can visit their official website.