Great Strides Walk Going Strong in Lynnfield

This Sunday morning, locals will gather on Lynnfield Common with a shared goal of raising tens of thousands of dollars to cure cystic fibrosis.

In a phone conversation this week with Lynnfield Patch, Joe DeLeo, one of the parents organizing this year's walk, said that about 10 million Americans carry the gene for cystic fibrosis, and that two carriers would have about a 1 in 4 chance of having a child with that condition. He added that some promising new treatment options are starting to emerge that could eventually help make cystic fibrosis more of a manageable condition.

DeLeo has a 16-year-old son with cystic fibrosis and estimates that in Lynnfield, the Great Strides walk has been running for about 15 years.

In previous years, the Cystic Fibrosis walk had been organized by the family of Ben Tolmei, who died of CF earlier this year. Tolmei was reportedly a volunteer with Food for the Poor and a fundraising event scheduled earlier this month in Saugus was part of an ongoing effort to build a home for an impoverished family in Jamaica in his honor.

For this year's walk, registration starts at 10 a.m. on Lynnfield Common, while the walk begins at 11 a.m. Would you like to get involved? To register for this weekend's Great Strides walk, click here.