Salem, Oregon Area Arthritis walk raises $6,000 in its first year

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Arthritis Walk is Saturday in Salem

Money raised will go toward prevention and finding a cure

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" Get going and keep moving " is a rallying cry in the fight against

arthritis, Arthritis Foundation Pacific Northwest Chapter President Marilee

McCoriston said.

s will heed the " keep moving " part Saturday in Salem for the

foundation's first area Arthritis Walk. The walk is in conjunction with

Arthritis Month and will raise money to help prevent, control and find a

cure for arthritis.

Salem's two walks -- one a mile long, the other three miles -- will be from

10 a.m. to noon Saturday, with registration at 9 a.m. at Riverfront Park.

The event will be a homecoming for McCoriston, who grew up on a farm in what

now is Salemtowne and graduated from South Salem High School in 1962.

She will join South High friends as Team Saxon and invites others, Saxons or

not, to join in the walk.

The event also will include Team Cassidy, consisting of dozens of friends

and family members of Cassidy Bullock, 9, of Salem.

" Cassidy is our celebrity walker, " said Kim Mellon, the campaign coordinator

for the Oregon branch of the AFPNW Chapter. " She has juvenile rheumatoid

arthritis, and she has asked her family and friends, so come to the walk and

support her. "

The Salem Heights Elementary School third-grader has seen more than 50

people join her team, including her younger siblings Paige and Ethan, along

with aunts, uncles, grandparents, neighbors and staff members at Salem

Heights Elementary.

" It's empowering to see people join with us, and for us to not just sit

around and let this happen but to be out doing something about it, " said her

mother, (Bitsy) Bullock. " It's also important for people to see

that it's not just an old person's disease. "

Cassidy Bullock was diagnosed with polyarticular juvenile rheumatoid

arthritis affecting multiple joints when she was in kindergarten.

McCoriston said the number of children affected by arthritis is an

eye-opener to many people, and other misconceptions about the disease exist.

" Arthritis is a very difficult cause to get people to rally around, " she

said. " People don't like to talk about arthritis because people get the idea

that 'nobody wants to hear about my pain.' "

McCoriston worked for the Hutchinson Cancer Research Center for eight years

and the Leukemia Society for three before her current work. She said people

get excited about fighting and attacking cancer, perhaps because it appears

to pose a more immediate threat.

The disease afflicts 66 million adults in the United States along with more

than 300,000 children, she said.

" Arthritis is a silent disease because people expect it as you get older, "

she said. " What people don't realize is that there are more people under the

age of 60 who have it than over the age of 60. "

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Arthritis walk raises $6,000 in its first year

May 14, 2006

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In its first year, the Salem Area Arthritis Walk raised about $6,000

Saturday at Salem's Riverfront Park.

Kim Mellen of the Arthritis Foundation, Pacific Northwest Chapter, said that

about 180 people took part in the walk, which consisted of four loops around

the park.

Many of the participants were walking with Cassidy Bullock, 9, of Salem.

" She had almost 100 people, " Mellen said. " It was more like Cassidy's walk. "

Cassidy has juvenile rherumatoid arthritis and hoped to raise awareness

about arthritis.

Mellen said that just organizing the walk was a victory for the group, as

the Arthritis Foundation has not had an office in Oregon in three years.

Anyone seeking information about arthritis or the foundation can call (888)

845-5695.