Rick Hansen showered with honours as he wraps 25th anniversary relay of Man in Motion tour

He's been Canada's Man in Motion for 25 years but Rick Hansen's energy to promote spinal-cord research never seems to ebb.

Hansen finished a cross-country relay Tuesday to mark anniversary of the May 22, 1987 completion of his round-the-world wheelchair odyssey.

The relay ended, fittingly, at Terry Fox Plaza in downtown Vancouver after Hansen wheeled the final stretch, accompanied by B.C. Premier Christy Clark and Mayor Gregor Robertson, The Canadian Press reported.

The event will be capped with a planned concert headlined by Sarah MacLachlan.

"There are few moments in life when the dream and the reality are the same," Hansen tweeted via his foundation. "This is one of them."

The Rick Hansen Foundation posted a highlight video of the relay on is web site Tuesday.

The anniversary relay began last Aug. 24 in Cape Spear, Newfoundland and Labrador, and travelled west, involving 7,000 participants who've made a difference in the lives of others, the foundation said.

Hansen, a Paralympian who was injured in a car crash at age 15, raised $26 million for spinal-cord research on his original wheelchair marathon, which took 26 months and took him through 34 countries.

Now aged 54, Hansen still considers conquering the Great Wall of China as a pivotal highlight of that trek.

"It's a symbol that there's no walls too big to be climbed, and when you're actually there, living in the moment, it was just unbelievable," he told CityTV Breakfast Television on Tuesday morning, according to News1130. "Now it's become a right of passage for many, many people with disabilities."

Since the Man in Motion tour ended, Hansen's foundation has raised more than $250 million to fund advances in treating spinal-cord injury and making life better for those who have it.

Canada Post honoured Hansen on Tuesday by featuring him in its new Difference Makers stamp series.

The other Canadians recognized in the series issued Tuesday were actor Michael J. Fox for his work on Parkinson's disease, aboriginal activist Sheila Watt-Cloutier and Louise Arbour, the former Supreme Court of Canada justice and war crimes prosecutor.

Hansen was also named an honorary colonel of the Canadian Armed Forces joint personnel support unit. It offers services and programs to sick and injured active and retired soldiers and their families, including relatives of soldiers who've been killed, the Toronto Star reported.

Hanson said he hopes to be able to provide encouragement to soldiers dealing with serious problems.

"We each have the power within in us to take small steps to overcome extreme obstacles," he said. "When we have hope, we have possibility."