Six million steps for children with cancer
Lowveld born Peter Dunn is walking six million steps to raise funds for children with this illness.
MBOMBELA – Step by step and kilometre by kilometre, former Lowvelder Peter Dunn is changing the lives of South African children living with cancer.
Dunn is on a journey called 6 Million Steps in aid of CHOC Childhood Cancer Foundation SA. He aimed to have completed the 4 240-kilometre walk in well under five months by today.
The steps are being taken on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) in the United States and, according to Dunn’s website, fewer people have hiked the entire PCT than have climbed Mount Everest.Dunn matriculated from Penryn College in 2004 and left the Lowveld in 2011. “We moved down to the Lowveld after having lost our farm in the eastern districts of Zimbabwe in 2003. We came to Nelspruit, and farmed out by Sterkspruit with my father’s brother and their father.”
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Dunn adds that he has an affinity to wildlife and might come back to the Lowveld someday. His decision to walk in aid of cancer patients was a personal one. His mother fought a battle against the disease and his uncle was diagnosed with lung cancer three days before he flew out to the US.
“Dear friends of mine endured the loss of their little boy, Eduan, who also fought brain cancer, and to see and understand that type of heartbreak really does have an impact,” Dunn says and explains why he believes in second chances for, specifically, children with it.
“They don’t understand why they are weak or cannot go play in the sand with the other kids, and they shouldn’t have to understand it. They should be allowed as much joy, happiness and relief as possible.”
When Dunn is not walking to change lives, has the privilege of working in a number of businesses and working environments. “Time has had a way of sneaking by unnoticed over the last decade or so, and I think it is time to choose a discipline, and become the best at that. I nearly have an answer,” Dunn said adding that the future is often a very shaky place if you load it with too much expectation.
For more about the initiative, follow Dunn at 6millionsteps.co.za.
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