Raising awareness from coast to coast

SAMOA- Walking from one coast to the other and all for a good cause , a daunting task for anyone, but Ron Lapham, a 73 year old Vietnam vet is up to it. He is travelling on foot from Samoa to Ocean City, Maryland with a 100-pound push cart full of supplies. The reason is to raise money for Parkinson’s disease though the Michael J. Fox Foundation and to bring awareness to the troubles of Blue Water Navy Vets. Lapham suffers from side effects of Agent Orange, which caused him to have to battle Parkinson’s along with prostate cancer and PTSD. He told us that Blue Navy Vets have a higher chance of suffering from symptoms of Agents Orange. However, the VA does not recognize Agent Orange in Veterans that did not step foot in Vietnam and unlike Lapham, most of the Blue Water Navy Vets didn’t do that. That didn’t cause them to avoid exposure though, Lapham says, the Navy men serving were exposed to it by contaminated drinking water. To find out more information about his trip, the Blue Water Navy Vets, or to support Ron on his journey you can go to his website at http://ronwalksamerica.com/ and to support the Michael J. Fox Foundation you can go to https://www.michaeljfox.org