Hotfooting It for Cancer Checkups

While most folks are celebrating Independence Day, William Croker will be walking through the scorching heat of Death Valley to alert people they should have checkups for cancer.

The Downey gas station attendant known as “Walkin’ Willie” has been making his treks since the 1970s when his mother, father, sister and best friend died of cancer.

“He wants to prove that the pain endured while walking the lowest and the hottest point [in the United States] is nothing compared to the pain of losing a loved one,” said Leonard Wilson, marketing director of Croker’s Cancer Awareness Foundation, which is based here.

In 1974, Croker set out alone on his first long-distance walk--from Los Angeles to Las Vegas--to fulfill a promise he made to his dying mother that he would do everything possible to fight cancer. “My mother could be alive today . . . if she had been tested early,” said Croker, tears welling in his eyes.

Since then, he has completed three long-distance walks, two of them cross-country, and started a foundation to publicize early cancer detection. Croker’s original plan for the Fourth of July was to embark on a 2,000-mile walk along the Great Wall of China. The trip was postponed when his Chinese sponsors backed out due to the return of Hong Kong to China. The trip will take place next year.

When Croker, 50, made the trip through Death Valley 22 years ago, he coughed up blood and his feet bled. His nails had to be pulled out because they hurt his feet, which had blistered in the 130-degree heat. He hopes to complete the 128-mile stretch of desert quicker than the five days it took him last time.

At Death Valley National Park, public information officer Ann Holeso greeted news of Croker’s trek with concern. “One hundred twenty-eight miles in four days! He’s real nuts for doing it,” she said “It’s a dangerous feat, and we wouldn’t recommend it to an average Joe.”

Croker’s last major expedition was almost 10 years ago when he walked from Seal Beach to the nation’s capital to push for increased federal funding of cancer research and treatment. At the end of the trail, he met President George Bush.

Croker’s training is a 15-mile round-trip walk to and from work, six days a week. He does not have a driver’s license, let alone a car. He estimates he has walked more than 75,000 miles.

The foundation, which is staffed by five volunteers, funds Croker’s journeys from contributions and proceeds from a documentary produced about him, “Walkin’ Willie: A Man and his Dream.”’

Formed in 1987, the foundation measures its achievements, not according to the funds it has raised, but according to the public exposure Croker and his message receive.

The organization has raised less than $100,000 in its 11 years, according to Wilson. But now it is putting more emphasis on donations as it tries to raise money for Mobile Cancer Detection Units, each costing $1 million.

V.V. Dachin Hsu who is making films about Croker’s trips to Death Valley and China, said she was struck by his “manic energy that is not satisfied with pumping gas.”

“He is telling the world that if a gas station attendant can do it, anyone can and should attempt something worthwhile.”

Donations to the Cancer Awareness Foundation can be sent to: Dept. WWWDV, P.O. 2099, Seal Beach, CA 90740-1099. Information: (562) 430-6823