walker with chronic pain closes in on goal- article

[Guest guest]

* closes in on goal*

*BY RICK FOSTER / SUN CHRONICLE STAFF*

LOS ANGELES -- Stopping at Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, 51-year-old

Dennis Kinch casts a glance over his shoulder at the last of California's

desert hills to the east.

`` I get chills whenever I look at that, because I know what's behind

them,'' says the thin, tanned former Attleboro resident about to enter the

final leg of a 2,400-mile walk from Chicago to Los Angeles to raise

awareness of chronic pain and its treatment.

Kinch braved 120-degree heat crossing the Mojave Desert and temperatures as

low as minus 20 in Missouri during his nine-month trek.

Kinch, who suffers daily pain from a bone disorder and a progressive form of

arthritis, towed a cart loaded with 80 pounds of camping gear and supplies

every step of the way.

But Kinch, whose trip is scheduled to conclude today in Santa , is

inspiring something more than chills with every step he takes. The former

chef and factory worker has become a symbol of hope for 75 million Americans

who suffer from chronic, often disabling pain.

`` Dennis has been a wonderful ambassador,'' says Pat Aardrup,

executive director of the National Pain Foundation, sponsors of his trip. ``

Everywhere he stops, he becomes something of a local celebrity.''

Diagnosed in 2004 with Paget's disease and amkylosing spondylitis, a form of

arthritis that affects the spine and body joints, Kinch has spoken at dozens

of pain clinics and comforted thousands of patients as well as distributing

information about an expanding array of treatment options, Aardrup said.

At a pain clinic on Wednesday in Torrance, Kinch met with about 15 patients

and several doctors at the Peninsula Pain Management Center. There he

listened to patients, shared his stories and encouraged sufferers to take an

active role in their own treatment.

`` The message he brings is a very good one, to help patients become aware

of what's available to them,'' said Dr. Ritu Arora, a Torrance pain care

specialist.

Arora, like a growing number of physicians interested in the study of pain,

advocates a `` multidisciplinary'' approach running from physical therapy to

acupuncture, spinal cord stimulation and spiritual care to battle

intractable pain.

In turn, Kinch urges doctors and health care providers to look beyond a

one-size-fits-all approach to pain management and advocates co-operative,

patient-centered care.

Kinch, who doctors say may eventually lose his ability to walk because of

pain, has taken a one-step-at-a-time approach during his walk and an

earlier, 400-mile trek from Attleboro to Washington, D.C.

`` You try not to look too far down the road, just put down one foot ahead

of the other,'' he says.

His strategy parallels the ethic he's adopted for battling pain, which he

calls `` doing what you can, when you can.''

`` We Americans tend to be fighters, which means sometimes we're paddling

upstream,'' Kinch says. `` I've learned to go with the flow.''

When Kinch's body allows him, he walks. When pain tells him it's time to

stop, he rests. But he never completely gives in.

To get this far across the country by foot, Kinch has had to travel light.

He carries water, clothes and camping supplies in a specially-modified

wheelbarrow which he pulls with the aid of a harness adapted from a

weightlifter's belt.

The rig attracts stares from those who often take Kinch for a homeless

person. When a Sun Chronicle reporter met Kinch in the tony suburb of Bel

Air, local police made three slow inspection passes within an hour.

Kinch's travel hasn't gone entirely without incident.

At one point, his wheelbarrow and belongings were stolen from a motel.

Often, he's had to reroute his trip around major interstates and bridges

where no sidewalks existed.

The worst came in April when Kinch suffered a sudden, massive hemorrhage

from an undetected ulcer. He was back on his feet and walking in three

weeks.

Along the way, Kinch wore through eight pairs of shoes, several sets of

tires for his wheelbarrow and dozens of socks and gloves.

At one point, he walked 62 miles in a 24-hour period.

Kinch's crusade against chronic pain stems from his own story, in which pain

began to overwhelm him several years ago.

Eventually, he was forced to abandon his career as a chef, lost a house he

owned in Colorado and was no longer able to care for his two teenage

daughters.

During much of that time, the source of Kinch's pain remained mysterious.

Eventually, doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston put a name

to the Attleboro man's condition.

Over the years Kinch underwent various treatments and therapies, including

aquatic therapy through the Attleboro YMCA and Sturdy Memorial Hospital in

Attleboro.

Rather than withdraw into his pain or battle aimlessly, Kinch tried a number

of therapies and went with what worked. Among other things, he found that

walking helped with his pain. The exercise has had other benefits as well.

`` This is the fittest I've ever felt,'' says Kinch, who has also adopted an

interest in walking for fitness.

One of the things he has learned in his travels, he says, is that in too

many places throughout America there are barriers to pedestrians which make

walking difficult.

One of the greatest benefits to come out of Kinch's walk, says NPF's

Aardrup, has been the positive reinforcement that pain sufferers get from

knowing that others understand and appreciate their situation.

`` Dennis is an inspiration to all who live with chronic pain,'' Aardrup

said. `` The number one problem that chronic pain sufferers face is

validation. Dennis's walk is meant to make people aware of this very real

and very serious health problem.''

Kinch, who plans to write a book and has been filmed for a movie

documentary, says he's seen pain sufferers come to tears talking about and

`` invisible'' problem which others sometimes minimize or have trouble

believing.

The pain, however, is real.

`` If you know someone who is dealing with pain everyday, the best thing you

can do for them is believe them,'' Kinch says. `` Just believe them.''

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