Woman Takes 700-Mile Hike

By SHELLEY HANSON

Much like her first steps as a toddler, Sandy McWilliams is walking again to her mother.

This time, however, the journey doesn't include baby steps across the living room floor, but a 700-mile trek from her home in Louisville, Ky., to Pennsville, N.J., where she grew up.

Wearing a green shirt and white hat, McWilliams, 53, on Friday was taking a break along U.S. 40 in St. Clairsville. She said her mother, Ailene Stoneman, 76, has a brain disease that most people don't know about - Progressive Supranuclear Palsy - and that it is often misdiagnosed.

To help inform people about the disease, McWilliams thought it best to walk. Her husband, Terry, and 17-year-old son, Scott, are traveling with her in a blue car marked with decals that say "Cure PSP."

Diagnosed in 2005, her mother now has little mobility and mostly sits. The disease doesn't inhibit a person's ability to think, but it hinders their ability to move. Eventually, they can't talk or swallow.

"I'm walking to my mother. It seemed like just the thing to do," McWilliams said.

A speech pathologist for a school system in Kentucky, McWilliams said she had never heard of the disease until her mother's diagnosis. She has since discovered that many physicians also aren't aware of it.

"It's so devastating. You're waiting slowly to lose all motor abilities," she said.

Since June 8, McWilliams has walked about 300 miles. On hotter days, she takes a break about every half-mile. On Friday, she started walking at 7:30 a.m. in Morristown. Since the temperature was a little cooler, she took water breaks about every mile. By 4:30 p.m., she had made it to St. Clairsville. McWilliams carries a neon green bandanna in one hand to make herself more visible to motorists and an air horn on her hip to ward off dogs that get too close.

"I have a fear of dogs. ... A doberman charged me once. It saw me and ran off its porch, and I blew that horn and it stopped and went back," McWilliams said of an experience in Kentucky.

Her journey will begin again at 8 a.m. today on South Front Street near the Suspension Bridge on Wheeling Island. McWilliams is inviting people to walk with her - for a few feet or a few miles, whichever they choose.

According to information provided by McWilliams, there are about five to six cases of Progressive Supranuclear Palsy per 100,000 people.

It is more common in men than women. Symptoms of the disease usually begin in the 60s, but can occur in one's 40s. There is no known cause, treatment or cure.

Death usually occurs within five to six years of the disease's onset, but can happen within 10 years.

It is often misdiagnosed as Parkinson's disease because of the similar symptoms, which include: in the beginning the loss of balance and falling backward; decreased interest in activities and changes in personality; eye movement difficulties, especially tracking the eyes downward; difficulty speaking; a decrease in expressive communication; problems swallowing that can lead to pneumonia, which is a primary cause of death for patients.

McWilliams said her walk, to date, has been easier than she thought it would be. She did do some conditioning beforehand, and she purchased some good, extra gym shoes. She travels about 20 miles a day, usually during daylight hours.

Halfway through the day she dips her feet into ice water in a cooler.

McWilliams doesn't know what the reunion will be like when she arrives home, but she is looking forward to it.

"I asked her once what she thought (of the walk). She said, 'I think it's great,'" McWilliams said.