LaSalle teen running from Windsor to Sarnia. Here’s why:

A little rain won't stop 16-year-old Carson Vuk from running to Sarnia from Windsor this weekend to raise money and awareness for ALS research, while honouring his late grandmother.

"My grandma, in 2017 she passed away from ALS and I'm just kind of doing this in her memory," the LaSalle teen said ahead of his 3-day trek.

Vuk plans to begin his fundraising run Saturday morning at 9 a.m. outside Windsor City Hall with a goal of arriving in Sarnia sometime Monday.

Vuk said he intends to run to Lighthouse Cove, then Wallaceburg, before arriving in Sarnia, noting his mom will be following closely behind.

"The goal is to just inspire more people to maybe do stuff like I do, do fundraisers, anything like that. And honestly just raise money, donate to my GoFundMe and just bring awareness to ALS."

Vuk was just six years old when ALS Ice Bucket Challenge swept social media, resulting in millions of dollars being donated. ALS Society of Canada officials say more money was raised per capita in Canada than anywhere else in the world at the time, resulting in over $17 million being collected for ALS treatment organizations and advocates.

Vuk said, "I feel like in the community, there's a lot of other diseases that seem to be taking the spotlight, which is great, but I feel like ALS, although there is some things they don't really get as much coverage as, you know, some of the other diseases. So I feel like why not me?"

ALS stands for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

It's is a progressive neurological disease that slowly paralyzes people because the brain is no longer able to communicate with the muscles of the body. It can progress quickly, with 80 per cent of patients dying within two to five years of diagnosis.

"It's such an incredibly moving story and it really helps to highlight now how much this disease does impact people and what they're willing to do to try and make a difference," said Tammy Moore, CEO of ALS Society of Canada.

"These are critical fundraisers," Moore explained. "Community events make a big difference. They're a way that people are able to demonstrate their commitment, demonstrate something that makes a difference to them, and call others in."

Moore added, "For organizations like ALS Canada, these are really important fundraisers because they help us to be able to do our work and they take limited resources from the organization to be able to support."

Despite not being a fan of long distance running, Vuk told CTV News he believes his grandmother would be proud and he hopes others will also be inspired by his efforts.

"I think she'd be very proud. Yeah, she'd give me a big hug and tell me how proud she is with me, for sure."

The grade 12 St. Thomas of Villanova student hopes to eventually become a doctor, with plans to study biomedicine at the University of Windsor.

Vuk said, "Honestly, it's closure for me. I feel like I was fairly young when my grandmother died and then just kind of doing this in her name is kind of closing the chapter at that point in my life where I didn't really get to know her, but now I'm doing something for her and just kind of wrapping that up and then bringing awareness to the disease that ultimately, you know, ended her life and it's just really nice for me to be able to do something to honour her and the other people that went through the same thing that she went through."