Though he did not make it all the way to Altus, Alan Barth's walk for the Muscular Dystrophy Association "Show of Strength" campaign can be counted a success.
"It went to 24 miles. I got only one mile away from the halfway point" at the U.S. 62-Snyder interchange, Barth said Monday.
The 60-year-old Lawton man set himself the task of walking all the way from the school bus he calls home to the B-47 in Highland Park. He set out at 8 a.m. Sunday on what he called an "awareness walk" to make people aware of the need to donate to the MDA.
In that he was roaringly successful. Barth had asked The Lawton Constitution to publish his cell phone number so people could call him and help keep him awake during a 25-hour hike.
In the time he was on the road, he got 116 texts or telephone calls.
"These texts are just absolutely beautiful. They're very heartwarming. Some had different forms of MD and voiced that," Barth said.
Some of the callers were in their 80s and told him they had lost a husband or a wife to the disease. A few times they began crying as they shared with him the loss of a loved one to MD.

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