By Steve Browne
Valley City Times-Record

Heart disease, stroke and Type 2 diabetes are part of the downside of modern life, which are often caused by not enough exercise and too many calories.
    Nurse Practitioner Mike Murphy is raising awareness of the importance of good diet and exercise by exercising his passion for rowing. Recently Murphy rowed from Odanah, Wis., to Duluth, Minn., and back in his Melon Seed skiff, a distance of about 220 miles, arriving back at Odanah Tuesday, May 20.
    A Melon Seed skiff is a replica of a 19th century New Jersey work boat once favored by  salvagers because it is very seaworthy and can be rigged for sail or oars.  
    Murphy graduated from Valley City High School in 1986, enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and was stationed in Okinawa, Korea, and San Diego. After his hitch in the Corps, he attended Jamestown College for a bachelor's degree in nursing and Boston College for his master's.   
    Murphy lives on Madelaine Island, Wis., at Lake Superior and works at the Memorial Medical Center Walk-In Clinic in Odanah on the Bad River Chippewa Reservation. He is also the case manager for the Bad River Project Heart Watch.
    Native Americans of the Bad River Reservation have a high incidence of heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.
    “I want to get people to exercise so I don't have to see them at my day job in the emergency room,” Murphy said.
    Because the ferry to Madelaine Island doesn't run after Murphy gets off work, he parks his car at the ferry landing and rows to the island, weather permitting.
    On his voyage between Odanah and Duluth, Murphy carried a GPS navigator and a ship-to-shore radio. His father James traveled ahead of him by car to set up camp for the night.
    “We met so many people along the south shore of Lake Superior who came out and told us their stories about their experience with heart disease and diabetes,” Murphy said.
    Murphy's mother Betty works in Valley City at Experience Works out of the Senior Center. Betty said on Mike's first night out she got a call from James that the lake was rough and Mike had gotten a late start.
    “He didn't call back and I was kind of stressed out,” Betty said.
    Besides rowing, aaother one of Murphy's passions is Valley City.
    “I miss Valley City terribly, it's one of the best places in the world,” he said.