16th Annual Camp CARE Walkathon
On Saturday September 26th 2009 at 10 am you may have heard drumming sounds coming from Butler High School from our PJ St.Martin and Zack Dobbin Memorial Walkathon.
Our walk was started by our son Paul Jon (PJ), who was diagnosed with a reoccurrence of a brain tumor in the Fall of 1993.Paul Jon was invited to attend Camp CARE the summer of 1994.
After he returned from his first Camp CARE summer camp in June of 1994 he was so impressed with his camp experience which provided him the opportunity to be with other teens like himself with cancer and feel like a normal teenager again that he wanted to make sure that all children with cancer could attend Camp CARE and have the opportunity to experience what he did at camp. So he started the first walkathon the fall of 1994 and unfortunately he had to do the walk in a wheelchair since his condition had changed. We lost him that December and have continued the walk to raise money to send children with cancer treated in the Charlotte –Metro area to Camp Care in his memory ever since.
In the meantime, a dear friend of PJ ‘s, Zack Dobbin who was considered the epitome of Camp CARE who attended camp with P.J. as a camper then volunteered as a counselor and even served as assistant director died July of 2005 from a reoccurrence of his cancer .We thank the Dobbin family for allowing us to add Zack to our walk and for partnering with us and now as we walk in Zack’s memory as well.
So back to the sound of drumming that you heard on Saturday the 26th......150 walkers who attended were serenaded by “Drum strong” started by Scot Swimmer , who drums for the cure came with his team to drum a beat for us and bring us together through music . After we walked we met in the cafeteria and then sang karaoke and danced to music to celebrate our families and children. We had face painting and a clown who made animal balloons for our children .We ate lunch together ,much that was donated.
We ended the day with raising $22,000.00 to send our children with cancer to summer camp next year and a balloon release to remember all our children that we have lost but live on in our hearts forever.