Souderton Resident Walks 600 Miles to Michigan to Fight Against Pediatric Brain Tumors
Souderton resident Jim Burns, 49, has returned from his 600-mile walk to Ann Arbor, Mich. that raised money for the fight against pediatric brain tumors, writes Bob Keeler for the Lansdale Reporter.
“Other than the birth of my three kids,” said Burns, “it was by far the most rewarding experience of my life.”
Burns met a lot of nice people along the way, strangers who helped out by giving meals, making donations, paying for a hotel for the night, or letting him stay at their home.
When he walked into the Penn State football office in State College with blisters and told them about the walk, they gave him socks. He spent July 4 at a family barbecue at the home of a man he met on the trip.
Burns even threw out the ceremonial first pitch at two minor-league baseball games, one for the Harrisburg Senators and the other for the Toledo Mudhens.
The walk, which started at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s surgical center in King of Prussia, ended with Detroit and Ann Arbor television and newspapers chronicling his arrival at the University of Michigan’s Big House stadium.
Money raised by the walk is being split between a consortium of pediatric hospitals led by CHOP and the ChadTough Foundation, named for Chad Carr, who was 5 when he died in November 2015.
Chad Carr’s grandfather, former Michigan football coach Lloyd Carr, was waiting for Burns at the conclusion of his walk.
Click here to read more about Jim Burns and the ChadTough Foundation in the Lansdale Reporter.
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