Beaver County man raising awareness for rare blood cancer by walking a 5K every day in September

BEAVER COUNTY, Pa. — There are 6,500 steps in an average 5K event, and one Beaver County man and his wife are walking those steps around the region every day this month.

“You are doing a good job, awe thank you,” said Peter Denardis’s 2-year-old granddaughter.

It’s words Denardis never thought he’d hear.

“The prognosis is basically getting your life in order because you have six years to live,” Denardis said.

A blood cancer so rare that Denardis had never heard of it has now changed his life.

“Around 1400 cases are diagnosed in the US every year, it’s a very rare cancer. To give you a better estimate it’s three per million people who are diagnosed with Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia,” said Dr. Prerna Mewawalla with Allegheny Health Network.

Now 20 years later, he’s still here fighting.

“Having been diagnosed at that age, I still had three young children. I didn’t even know if I would see them graduate from high school much less get married and have their own children,” Denardis said.

It’s the gratitude for life that is pushing him to bring awareness to the disease. For the month of September, he is walking a 5K every day.

“I could have gotten any sort of disease so why not me; everyone has to face something,” Denardis said.

From Erie to Beaver County and the City, he’s making his rounds, seeing the sights but most importantly he’s walking to bring hope and he’s not alone.

“We do have a lot of people walking in the UK, the Netherlands, we have them in various parts of the world. If they are doing it I better be doing it too because I don’t want them to do better than me,” Denardis said.

He is documenting his journey through pictures and posts.

Click here to see where you can also donate for research to the cancer in Denardis’s name.

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