Kalispell native CNN Hero of the Year finalist

Kalispell native and professional kayaker Brad Ludden is one of 10 finalists for the CNN Hero of the Year award that honors everyday people who are changing the world.

A top hero is chosen through online voting, with the winner receiving $100,000. All 10 finalists will receive $10,000. Voting began Wednesday and continues through Dec. 6.

Profiles of the top 10 finalists and online voting can be found at www.cnn.com/specials/cnn-heroes. A link to vote also is on the Kalispell Public Schools’ Facebook page.

Ludden, a Flathead High School graduate, is best known for First Descents, a nonprofit organization he founded in Vail, Colorado, in 2001 to provide free outdoor adventures for children and young adults with cancer. Since then First Descents has provided camping adventures to more than 3,000 patients and survivors.

In addition to his work with First Descents, Ludden travels the world as a top extreme athlete with personal first descents on more than 75 rivers from central Africa to Indonesia. A first descent in kayaking is when someone successfully navigates a section of river that has never been paddled before. Ludden had attained nearly 100 first descents by the time he was 18.

“Every time you come around a corner, you’re the first person to see it from that perspective,” Ludden, now 35, told CNN reporter Meghan Dunn for a Sept. 8 story. “You feel a lot of personal transformation and growth through that process.”

It’s that life-changing experience Ludden strives to give young adults with cancer.

“When you’re a young person with cancer, it’s so isolating,” Ludden told CNN. He watched his own aunt battle cancer when she was just 38. “All your friends are getting married, having children, starting jobs and living life. Here you are fighting for yours.”

The CNN Heroes recognition is not Ludden’s first time in the national media spotlight. His accomplishments have been showcased in numerous publications, including being the readers’ choice for Cosmopolitan magazine’s Hottest Bachelor of 2008.