The New Haven Advocate article By Rebecca Lucente

WINDSOR — Chris Lyon is having an ordinary Saturday in Kodiak, Alaska. He’s at home, drinking coffee and checking Facebook. He’s reading stories about his “best and most loyal friend,” Ty Cheverier. Ty, a husband and father, passed away in 2005 after combatting Mesenchymal Chondrosarcoma for five years, a rare and rapidly spreading cancer of the cartilage. On March 23, Lyon, a 37-year-old chef, plans to set off alone across the country to raise awareness and research money in memory of his friend. And he’s doing it all on foot.

“I had a dream in which I already did it,” Lyon says. “I walked all the way from Alaska to Connecticut in memory of Ty, and all these people got involved. It was pretty vivid. Now it’s in full swing.”

Lyon will post video and journal entries on his blog, Alaska to Connecticut, A Walk For A Friend (alaska2ct.blogspot.com). The itinerary is as follows: 2 p.m. March 23, climb on a boat from the docks of Kodiak Island; four days later arrive in Bellingham, Wash.; San Francisco: meet with representatives for the American Alliance for Sarcoma Cancer; Nevada: no particular reason; Missouri: his place of birth, the Carolinas: last place he lived; Connecticut: home.

Lyon hopes to be back by Sept. 18 to participate in a charity golf tournament founded in Ty’s name. “Only an adventure of this size could really do justice to such a wonderful guy!” posts Hannah Bridgeman Oxley on the A Walk For A Friend, Journey Across America group on Facebook that Lyon started March 1. As of this writing, it has 464 members.

Proceeds of a book would go to the Ty Cheverier Open Fund, as will all other donations gained along the way, all going in an as-yet-undetermined way to Mesenchymal Chondrosarcoma research.

Donations can be made to the Ty Cheverier Open Fund, c/o Steven VanGasbeck, 237 Dudley Town Road, Windsor, CT, 06095. You can learn more about Mesenchymal Chondrosarcoma at sarcomahelp.org. —Rebecca Lucente