Pacing Parson Walks For A Cause

By Nancy K. Crevier

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” — Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu, 604–531 BC

Seventy-two-year-old Don Stevenson of Auburn, Wash., left that adage in the dust several thousand miles ago. On Monday, September 15, Mr Stevenson walked over the George Washington Bridge and into Manhattan, ending a 13,000 mile hike that took him all around his home state and across the country in a quest to raise awareness of Huntington’s disease.

nearing the completion of a 13,000-mile Huntington’s disease is the result of the genetically programmed degeneration of brain cells that causes jerky movements, a loss of intellect, and emotional upheaval. Approximately 30,000 Americans have been diagnosed with Huntington’s disease and another 150,000 are at risk for inheriting the mutated gene passed from parent to child that causes Huntington’s.

Symptoms are controlled through various medications, but currently, there is no way to stop the progression of the disease.

 Mr Stevenson passed through Newtown on Thursday, September 11, a side trip on his latest walk for charity that began in Washington on January 9, 2007. He has worn out several pairs of shoes walking to support Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, and cancer research, according to his wife Loretta Stevenson, who follows her husband in a support van. This latest charitable jaunt started when a good friend who had lost his mother and three siblings to Huntington’s disease asked Mr Stevenson if he would consider a walk for Huntington’s. “We didn’t even know what Huntington’s disease was,” recalled Mrs Stevenson, but after researching the illness, Mr Stevenson pulled on his sneakers and set off.

The first 10,000 miles of the walk were all in the state of Washington, and on April 26, he put on his ninth of the 15 pairs of sneakers he would eventually go through before reaching the Eastern seaboard, and began the final 3,000 mile trek from the Seattle Space Needle to the Empire State Building on West 34th Street in Manhattan.

Thursday’s walk through Newtown was an additional couple hundred extra miles so that he could take part in the Team Hope Walk at Lighthouse Point in East Haven on Sunday, September 14. Mr Stevenson actually arrived in New York on September 8.

“I was aiming to get to New York City on the 15th, but I got here a little too soon. I was walking about 30 miles a day at one point. Around Chicago I cut back to 20 miles a day, because I was going to get here way ahead of when I was scheduled to walk over the George Washington Bridge,” said Mr Stevenson on September 11, taking a break from his walk through the center of town. “I needed a few more miles, too, to make the 13,000 miles,” he said.

As of the prior evening, Mrs Stevenson said, her husband had clocked 12,878 miles, and when he finishes the walk on Monday, he will have a grand total of nearly 40,000 miles since he first began walking for charities in 1998.

“I started walking just because I wanted to walk across the country,” said the former truck driver and Nazarene pastor. “But I didn’t want to walk just to do it for myself. I probably wouldn’t have made it out of the county,” he chuckled.

The Pacing Parson, as he is known in his home state, walks every day, rain or shine, except Sunday. The weekend of September 14 was an exception, he said, to his “never on Sunday” walking rule. “The walk-a-thon is special and they invited me, so it’s for a good cause,” he said.

He tries to walk at a steady three miles per hour pace, always wearing a pair of “The Beast” sneakers donated by Brooks Sports, a leading running shoe designer and marketer based in Washington. Brooks Sports also supplies Mr Stevenson with the athletic gear that he wears during his all-weather walks. Keeping his feet comfortable is important, and to date, he has not had any knee or feet problems, despite the number of miles he has logged.

Traffic is his biggest concern when he is on the trail. “I’ve had a few close calls, including one time I rolled over the hood of a car. They were looking left and I came from the right at an intersection,” said Mr Stevenson. Now he wears a whistle to let people know where he is when crossing hazardous streets. Nor does he step out without his lime-green reflective vest and baseball cap, and clipped to his belt is a red reflector. “I try to make sure I stay out of the way,” Mr Stevenson said. He also carries a collapsible walking stick that not only aids him from tiring quickly, but serves as a baton to ward off wayward dogs, although he has yet to have any big problems in that department, he said.

By walking to raise awareness for various charities, said Mr Stevenson, he encourages others to donate to the causes. So far, he has raised more than $10,000 for the Huntington’s Disease Society of America, and he hopes to reach a goal of $20,000 by the time he is in the shadow of the Empire State Building.

Crossing over the George Washington Bridge, Mr Stevenson chatted with strangers along the way, including an NYPD officer, who is also a Huntington’s Disease patient. A very special stop en route to the Empire State Building at the Terrence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center on Fifth Avenue allowed Mr Stevenson to visit with Huntington’s disease patients, a moment that so moved the Pacing Parson, that he burst into song.

By the time he stood in the shadow of the Empire State Building, Mr Stevenson had met his goal of raising $20,000 for the support of Huntington’s Disease research. But by the time he returns to the October 18 welcome home party in Washington, he hoped to raise yet another additional $10,000.

But on September 11, Mr Stevenson was putting in the 20 miles he does every day by walking from the Hampton Inn in Danbury and down Route 6 to Sandy Hook Center, greeting all along the way with a wave and a smile and a hope that his efforts would be realize still more donations for his cause.

To donate, visit firstgiving.com/10kmilewalk or mail a check to HD Society of America, Code #070TH03, PO Box 33345, Seattle WA 98133. For more information about Mr Stevenson, visit pacinparson.org.

Mrs Stevenson gladly shared her husband’s biography, where the parson’s motto at the bottom reads, “I walk for those who cannot walk; I give love and support to those who truly need and appreciate it.” As he walks, he said, he is the recipient of all of the reward he needs. “When I meet people who are involved with the disease, who have friends or family with Huntington’s and they talk to me,” said Mr Stevenson, “their gratitude is my best payment.”