ANDERSON — Backpacking for more than 2,100 miles is a daunting task for any hiker, let alone one with a serious skin condition.

Hiker Matthew Wood didn’t let his rare epidermolytic hyperkeratosis stop him from making his dream of hiking the Appalachian Trail a reality.

“Basically my skin is just really dry and really fragile, a lot more fragile than the average person’s skin,” said the 22 year-old Anderson University student. “When I was younger, it would crack and bleed from being so dry.

“I have to really pay attention to it.”

His grandmother, Tommie Wood, said the condition is not only extremely rare, but requires a lot of care.

“I remember sitting in the pediatrician’s office in Texas for his first appointment, with his mother and father,” the grandmother recalled.

“The doctor looked at us and said, ‘This is really rare. You’re going to need a lot of help and a lot of support’.”

She added, “I was hoping she could find them a support group, but I knew that if it was as rare as she had said, then there wouldn’t be one. Sure enough she came back and said she hadn’t had any luck, but she would keep trying. Right then I knew that this was something that was going to need a lot of care, and it has.”

Setting goals

Despite this setback, the young adventurer has surpassed many goals that even the average person hasn’t.

For one, he’s an Eagle Scout.

“That’s something that takes a lot of dedication,” said Wood’s college roommate of four years, Michael Douglass. “There are a number of merit badges that you have to earn and a project that has to be completed. So, it’s a lot of work, but he’s a very dedicated person. When he gets his mind set on something, he sticks with it.”

Robert Wood, the hiker’s grandfather, agreed.

“Nobody thought he could become an Eagle Scout because of his skin condition, but he did. He proved them wrong.”

That was just the beginning.