Walk The Walk With ‘Two Dogs, 2000 Miles’  Trekkers

By Nancy K. Crevier

Join Luke Robinson and his two Great Pyrenees dogs Hudson and Murphy, when “Two Dogs, 2000 Miles” returns to Newtown, Sunday, March 21. The public is invited to join the trio at Fairfield Hills on Trades Lane, at 11 am, to support a relatively new area of cancer research called comparative oncology.

“It is hard to come across anyone whose life has not been touched by cancer,” said Luke Robinson late last month when he first passed through Newtown (See the March 5 Newtown Bee, “Man and Dog vs Cancer: A 2,000 Mile Mission”).

Since March 2008, Mr Robinson and his have been on the road, a trek that began in Austin, Texas, and which will end June 18, in Boston. The “Austin to Boston, Two Dogs, 2,000 Miles” adventure grew out of Mr Robinson’s frustrations when his dog Malcolm was diagnosed with metastasizing bone cancer in 2004, and died in 2006 at age 8.

It has been through conversations with veterinarians and oncologists, as well as other dog owners as he has walked across the country that Mr Robinson has defined his objective. His walk is dedicated to Malcolm and every other dog and living being that might benefit from research into comparative oncology. Comparative oncology research on dogs with naturally occurring cancers, he believes, could hold the key to a cancer cure.

Comparative oncology research is not animal testing. “It uses dogs with spontaneously occurring cancers, and actually makes us less reliant on animal testing,” Mr Robinson explained.

According to the National Cancer Institute, comparative oncology is the “work of clinical veterinary oncologists in using naturally occurring cancers in animals to better understand and treat cancer in humans.” Animals share environmental risk factors with humans, “suggesting their value as sentinels of disease,” says the NCI Cancer Research Center website. Through research and clinical trials, comparative oncologists can determine if there are environmental risk factors for cancer; examine genetic links to cancer predispositions in some dog breeds; develop novel cancer and gene imaging systems; evaluate new therapeutic approaches to cancer; and add to genomics data.

 The walk is open to all who have ever faced cancer, whether human or canine. Everyone is encouraged to come out and meet the trio. If you plan to bring your dog, please remember that the town requires leashes. Dog walkers are encouraged to clean up after their pets. All walkers are requested to stay on the trail.

Enter Fairfield Hills at the intersection of Trades Lane and Wasserman Way. Turn left at first stop sign and look for parking — and two big, white dogs — on the left. Additional parking is nearby.

According to Mr Robinson’s publicists, there is a possibility that the producers from Animal Planet will be there to document the walk.

Following the walk there will be a Meet and Greet and PowerPoint presentation by Mr Robinson, at 2 pm, in the meeting room of the CH Booth Library, 25 Main Street.

For more information and to RSVP, contact Jodi Bialik at jodibialik@gmail.com.

To find out more about Mr Robinson’s journey, visit www.2dogs2000miles.org.