Finding Purpose on the Trail: A Father’s Journey Through the Shenandoah for His Daughter and the Autoimmune Association

A Sudden Diagnosis That Changed Everything

There are few things in this life that make you feel more helpless than watching your child suffer and not being able to fix it. For Michael White, that helplessness hit hard earlier this year when his daughter Caroline — an athletic, resilient, driven college junior — was suddenly diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis.

It came on quickly, as autoimmune diseases often do. One moment, Caroline was a rising junior at James Madison University, navigating classes and life as a young adult. The next, she was in the emergency room with what felt like appendicitis. Blood tests revealed alarming liver numbers, sky-high bilirubin, and escalating liver enzymes, and suddenly, Michael’s world shifted.

The Overwhelming Weight of Uncertainty
Anyone who is tangentially connected to the autoimmune world knows that obtaining a diagnosis often feels like the beginning of more questions than answers. That’s where Caroline and her family currently stand. She’s been having weekly blood draws, with continually scary out of range results, she’s started an immunosuppressant medication and is currently on a very high dose of the steroid prednisone as they wait to see if this medication will work.

The weight of uncertainty, and the fear of what comes next if it doesn’t — it’s extremely overwhelming.

That’s the reality Michael and his family were dropped into without warning. But amidst the fear, the worry, the bills piling up from multiple specialists, and a four-hour diagnostic liver biopsy, Michael knew he had to do something. Something that honored his daughter, her fight, and the category of invisible illnesses that affect one in five Americans.

A Father’s Resolve to Take Action
So, he laced up his hiking boots.

As a longtime project manager with a deep appreciation for the outdoors, Michael had been eyeing the Shenandoah National Park 52 Hiking Challenge for a little while. As a series of 23 loop hikes totaling more than 150 miles on 52 trail segments, this felt like the perfect mix of physical challenge, opportunity for expanding his personal endurance, and a chance to really have some reflective solitude as he copes with new fears, worries and doubts in relation to his daughter’s health, her happiness, and her future.

This hiking challenge became the vessel through which Michael decided to raise both money and awareness for the Autoimmune Association, connecting him closer to his daughter, reminding her that no matter what comes next, she’ll always have his unwavering support, and in pushing himself to the physical exertion that provides some sort of stress release as well.

Michael launched his fundraiser last month, and in the time it’s been live, he has raised over $2,000 and completed 7 hikes, totaling 41 miles and 9,300 feet in elevation. And he’s just getting started.

The Need for More Research, More Hope
What makes Michael’s story especially resonant isn’t just his devotion to his daughter.

It’s how clearly he’s come to understand that her story is part of something much bigger.

Autoimmune hepatitis isn’t common, and research is limited, particularly for patients who, like Caroline, might still respond to early treatment. Most of the existing studies focus on rare, treatment-resistant cases, leaving families like Michael’s feeling unseen and underserved. But instead of waiting for someone else to make progress, Michael is hitting the trail, literally, to make noise and raise funds.

His partnership with the Autoimmune Association, a 4-star Charity Navigator organization dedicated to advancing research, advocacy, and support for more than 100 autoimmune diseases, Michael found our mission aligns deeply with what he wants for his daughter and all autoimmune patients: better research, earlier diagnoses, and improved treatment options.

The Digital Trailhead
Michael’s Instagram, @mike.white46, has become the digital trailhead of his journey, along with the routine emails he sends to his family, friends, and donors, updating them on his hiking progress, sharing photos from the trail, highlighting his fundraising milestones, and yes, even his post-hike brewery visits. These updates are filled with both humor and honesty about the terrain, the toll the hikes take on his body, and the emotional weight he carries with each step. While he was in fairly good shape before taking on this adventure, Michael admits that the increase in physical exertion and intensity have caused some of the hikes to “kick his behind,” although that certainly has not stopped him.

If anything, it’s made his purpose even clearer.

This journey, he says, is about more than just Caroline. His niece also lives with an autoimmune disease — alopecia. She lost her hair in the sixth grade and her self-confidence and sense of self really struggled with the physical changes she watched happen in the mirror in front of her. Michael was extremely sensitive to this, although at the time he wasn’t sure how he could best support her. Standing up now for autoimmune disease awareness has more than one purpose, strengthening both his passion and his voice in this space.

Michael has only recently become aware of the staggering prevalence of autoimmune diseases, and the deeply devastating reality that there are still no cures. That no breakthroughs even seem to be on the horizon.

It’s frustrating.

It’s infuriating.

And it’s motivating.

Forging Hope, One Mile at a Time

Michael’s next set of hikes is planned for early July, and he’s already thinking about increasing his fundraising goal to $4,600 — a meaningful number for him and his family (Caroline and her brother both wore #46 on their soccer jerseys growing up). Some friends and family members are joining him on future hikes, while others follow along from afar, donating per mile, per hike, or with a one-time gift. Every step, every dollar, every Instagram story adds to the growing ripple of awareness he’s building.

What Michael wants people to know is simple: autoimmune diseases don’t discriminate.

They come fast, they come hard, and they often come without a roadmap. Families like his are left navigating a completely new reality, one filled with far more questions than answers, medication choices, changes, dosing requirements and insurance coverage, symptom management and overall health monitoring, and an unbelievable mountain of unknowns.

But what they need most, besides answers, is support.

Community.
Visibility.
Hope.

Michael is forging that hope one mile at a time. And for those of us who know the weight of a diagnosis, who have lived inside the uncertainty, or who love someone who has, his journey feels like a lifeline.

Join the Journey
You can follow Michael’s hiking challenge on Instagram at @mike.white46, and support his fundraiser for the Autoimmune Association through his official donation page.

Mike’s Fundraising Page

Let’s show up for him.
For Caroline.
And for the millions of others living with autoimmune disease.

To learn how you can organize your own fundraiser and raise hope for the autoimmune community, please visit our Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Fundraising page.