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Cancer survivor, special education teacher finishes 50-mile walk against cancer

In late May Martin tried to walk the 50 miles from the Lakeland Regional Health Hollis Cancer Center in Lakeland to Universal City Walk in Orlando but only made it half way.
Rafael Martin is a prostate cancer survivor diagnosed in 2014.

POLK COUNTY, Fla. — A local cancer survivor and special education teacher finished what he started and hit the pavement Friday for a cause close to his heart.

Rafael Martin walked 26.2 miles from a Subway restaurant on Highway 27 in Davenport to the Universal City Walk in Orlando to raise money for the Lakeland Regional Health Hollis Cancer Center.

He says his main goal is spread the message “about the epidemic of cancer and we need to tell our leaders in Washington ... that we need to do something. What we are doing is not working.”

In late May Martin tried to walk the 50 miles from the Lakeland Regional Health Hollis Cancer Center in Lakeland to Universal City Walk in Orlando but only made it half way.

Martin passed out from dehydration halfway through his journey and was taken to a nearby Subway to recover by two men he didn’t know, according to his GoFundMe page.

That was when he pledged to finish the 50 mile walk with friends and family by his side.

Martin’s GoFundMe said he is currently receiving hormone and radiation treatment at the Lakeland Regional Health Hollis Cancer Center for prostate cancer. He has been a patient at the center since March 2014, when he was first diagnosed with prostate cancer. He has undergone 3 surgeries, hormone and radiation treatments previously, according to his GoFundMe.

Martin’s cancer returned, so his doctor told him he needed more hormone and radiation treatments. It will cause him severe fatigue, but he's determined to complete the 50 miles anyway in the hopes of helping others, his GoFunMe said.

This wasn’t Martin’s first walk or run to raise funds or awareness for cancer.

In 2014 he did what some people would call unthinkable: He ran 250 miles to Tallahassee to deliver a message to Governor Rick Scott.

PREVIOUS: A man on a mission to fight cancer

Martin watched his mother lose a battle with cancer years back.

“Cancer is the number 2 killer of Americans," he said. "Every year 600,000 people die of cancer. 1.7 million people get diagnosed and that number is growing. There are about 15-16 million cancer survivors now we estimate. And by 2026 it’s going to go up by 20 million. To me that’s an epidemic.

"So if I can get people to start thinking about it, our leaders, viewing cancer as an epidemic, an outbreak, then maybe that would galvanize things to make some changes.”

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