The Woohoo! Report

Luke Robinson of Austin, Texas with his dogs, Murphy and Hudson.

By Linda Fuoco, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Two dogs are walking more than 2,000 miles from Austin, Texas, to Boston to raise awareness, and maybe some money, for canine cancer research.

Murphy, 8, and Hudson, 2, are expected to arrive in Downtown Pittsburgh June 30. They hope to make a grand entrance by walking across the West End Bridge to PNC Park, where they will attend a Pirates game. It’s one of those really cool “Pup-Night” events in which dogs get to go to a baseball game with their people.

It would be hard to miss these two, for they are very large, very white Great Pyrenees.

Murphy and Hudson are traveling with their owner, Luke Robinson, 38. He conceived the Texas-to-Massachusettes trek after the death of a beloved dog “changed my life,” he says.

“Luke and the boys,” as their fans and followers call them, have been on the road for about 1,000 miles and 12 months. People follow their progress at www.2dogs2000miles.org and on Twitter. Mr. Robinson carries their sleeping tent and other supplies in a giant backpack. The dogs wear much smaller packs.

They walk 8-10 miles a day, when they’re moving. The trio makes frequent rest stops, such as in Pittsburgh, where they plan to stay for two weeks. They’ve done volunteer work at animal shelters along the way, met with veterinary cancer specialists, and lined up “meet and greet” events to raise awareness about cancer research.

Their Pittsburgh schedule includes a meet and greet in Market Square 11:30 a.m. July 1 and an appearance with the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society 5-9 p.m. July 2 at center court in the Mall at Robinson.

Mr. Robinson (no relation to the west suburban mall) also plans to walk homeless dogs housed at the North Side shelter, as if he hasn’t done enough walking in the past year.

Malcolm, his first Great Pyrenees, was a healthy, active 6-year-old when he was diagnosed in 2004 with osteosarcoma. Mr. Robinson was devastated. He was also angry and puzzled because “no one could tell me why.”

“Why are so many dogs dying from cancer? Why are so many dogs dying at younger ages? What are we doing wrong?” he asked in a cell phone interview from the road. “Is it diet? The environment? Pesticides?”

Osteosarcoma is bone cancer, and some of the large breeds of dogs seem to be particularly susceptible. Malcolm’s cancer was in a leg bone. Amputation and chemotherapy prolonged his life for two years, but the cancer ultimately spread to his lungs, and he died in 2006.

“I sold my truck and put my stuff in storage and got in shape for this trip,” Mr. Robinson said.

Born in Galveston, Texas, Mr. Robinson grew up in Austin. He operated a consulting practice for biotech companies first in San Antonio and then in Boston, where he moved in 2003. He put the business and the rest of his life on hold to walk with Murphy and Hudson.

“I’m just an average guy” not an athlete, he noted. “I had to get in shape for this trip. I’m 6-foot 2 and I was up to 250 pounds. When we started the trip, I was 195 pounds. I consume about 4,000 to 6,000 calories a day, and my weight has fluctuated between 184 and 215 pounds on this trip.”

On the trio’s Web site, visitors can follow their progress on a map, their blog or on Twitter, where “we have 1,800 followers,” Mr. Robinson said. The Web site also includes a shop where you can buy a variety of merchandise, including canine cancer survivor T-shirts.

“This is not so much about raising money as it is about raising awareness,” Mr. Robinson said. “We do accept donations to help defray the cost of travel,” but he indicates they don’t need much.

“When we get back to Boston, we will concentrate more on fundraising.”

Kind-hearted strangers put Luke and the boys up in their homes. Other times they sleep in a tent. “I’d say it’s about 50-50, sleeping in the tent vs. staying in homes.”

The boys are having a great time.

“I think this may be the ideal life for dogs,” Mr. Robinson said with a chuckle. “The biggest challenge so far has been ticks in Ohio. I counted 120 ticks that I picked off the boys. An upcoming challenge will be crossing the Appalachian Mountains.”

High up on Mr. Robinson’s wish list would be the chance to meet someone from the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“I have a great deal of respect for your quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger. I took a day off to watch the Super Bowl, and I thought, ‘Wow! What a team!’ I’d love to give the Steelers some of our ‘Puppy Up’ bracelets” for cancer awareness.

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Their names immortalized (Boston Globe) Ironworkers spray paint names of young cancer patients onto the beams of the Yawkey Center going up at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

By John Tlumacki, Globe Staff

Eighteen-month-old Kristen Hoenshell has a rare and aggressive form of cancer. What began as a tumor behind her eye has led to surgery and 38 weeks of weekly visits to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where she receives powerful doses of chemotherapy that leave her weak and occasionally sick.

Yesterday, when she showed up for another round of treatment, she was greeted by something special. As her cousin Megan Souza pointed out the window of a third-floor walkway, ironworkers perched on the sixth floor of a partially constructed building nearby hoisted a massive I-beam into place. It was emblazoned, in bright pink spray paint, with Kristen’s name.

“Look out the window,” Souza said, as she held Kristen in her arms. “There’s your name up there. There’s your name, Kristen.” The girl, bald from her treatments, smiled shyly.

It has become a beloved ritual at Dana-Farber: Every day, children who come to the clinic write their names on sheets of paper and tape them to the windows of the walkway for ironworkers to see. And, every day, the ironworkers paint the names onto I-beams and hoist them into place as they add floors to the new 14-story Yawkey Center for Cancer Care.

The building’s steel skeleton is now a brightly colored, seven-story monument to scores of children receiving treatment at the clinic – Lia, Alex, and Sam; Taylor, Izzy, and Danny. For the young cancer patients, who press their noses to the glass to watch new names added every day, the steel and spray-paint tribute has given them a few moments of joy and a towering symbol of hope.

“It’s fabulous,” said Kristen’s mother, Elizabeth, as she held her daughter and marveled at the rainbow of names. “It’s just a simple little act that means so much.”

Most days, the walkway fills up like the passageway of an aquarium, packed with children gazing through the glass. When a new name goes up on the building, the children cheer and clap. Yesterday, Juclaubern Palmer Osias, a 16-year-old from Holbrook who was diagnosed with cancer last year, saw his name immortalized in green paint on a beam on the seventh floor.

“It’s your name,” he said. “It makes you feel important.”

It’s given a sense of satisfaction to the ironworkers, too.

“Everybody saw the kids smiling,” said Mike Walsh, the foreman for the ironworkers, from Local 7, whose wife, Sheila, is a nurse at Dana-Farber. “And that’s what you want to do, is keep them smiling, especially if they’re going for treatment in there.”

The ironworkers made a similar tribute in 1996, when they painted the names of young cancer patients on beams they used to build the Smith Research Laboratories at Dana-Farber. For a time, a short film about the project was shown in movie theaters to raise money for the Jimmy Fund.

This time, the ironworkers knew they wanted to honor the children again. Over the last month, they have painted more than 100 names on the building and emblazoned part of their crane with a likeness of SpongeBob SquarePants. They have also painted a few special messages on the steel, like “Hi Hanna Get Well ASAP ”

Yesterday, crawling on their stomachs in the bitter cold and whipping winds, the ironworkers looked down at the latest batch of names posted in the walkway window. Looking up at them were Kristen and her sisters, Cathryn, 5, and Hannah, 3, who have been accompanying her to chemotherapy. They pointed as the ironworkers painted the girls’ names onto the side of a 4-ton I-beam and hoisted it on to the seventh floor.

“She’ll always be a piece of this building, which is a good feeling to have,” Elizabeth Hoenshell said, holding Kristen. “They don’t have to do this, the guys. They could just do their job and do a good job at it and give us a building that we can get treatment at, but they go the extra step and that’s huge.”

One day, years from now, Hoenshell said, she hopes to take Kristen back to the clinic, and show her where her name is inscribed. “I’m going to stand her right here at this pedestal and say, ‘Look right up,’ and ‘That was you,’ ” she said. “Maybe I’ll take her over there for a little walk. She can step on her name,” she said, laughing.

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