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Man taking steps to help raise awareness on Huntington's disease By MARLISA KEYS
SANDPOINT -- By the time the Pacin' Pastor enters New York City on Sept. 15, he will have worn out six pairs of Brooks Sport tennis shoes.
Don Stevenson, 72, is a former pastor from Auburn, Wash., who walks to bring awareness and raise money to battle diseases like Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis and cancer.
This time he is taking on Huntington's disease as a favor to a friend, Jack Meteyer, whose mother, two brothers and a sister died from the disease.
Huntington's is an incurable hereditary degenerative brain disorder that diminishes the ability to walk, think, talk and reason, according to Stevenson's Web site: pacinparson.org.
His campaign involves walking from Seattle to New York -- 13,000 miles in all -- with the goal of raising $20,000 -- he's raised more than $10,000.
Stevenson is on the last leg of his walk, which originally began as a 6,000 mile walk in January 2007 to different destinations he walked from his home. However, he decised it would be appropriate to walk to the Huntington's Disease Society of America headquarters in New York.
Interestingly, one out of every 10,000 Americans has Huntington's disease. A person with the disease becomes totally dependent upon family members for their care.
Some early symptoms of HD are mood swings, depression, irritability or trouble driving, learning new things, remembering a fact, or making a decision according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
After leaving Sandpoint, Stevenson is headed north to Bonners Ferry and then toward New York via Libby.
This is his furthest fundraising walk, Stevenson said, surpassing an 8,000 mile walk to raise funds for multiple sclerosis. That walk ended at the Twin Towers in New York City on Sept. 7, 2001.
"He says this is going to be his last long distance charity walk," his wife said. |