Johnny 'The Walker' Wowk reaches milestone: 15,000 miles

[okarol]

Published: July 15, 2008 12:41 am

Johnny 'The Walker' Wowk reaches milestone: 15,000 miles

By Stacie N. Galang
Staff writer

PEABODY — Johnny "The Walker" Wowk has taken the roads most traveled.

Over the last 15 years, the kidney transplant recipient has worn out the soles of his shoes on roads all over the North Shore. Yesterday, he marked his 15,000th mile, taking the ceremonial steps outside City Hall with Mayor Michael Bonfanti.

"Everybody sees me everywhere," said Wowk, 56. "I only walk on main streets. I never take side streets."

The mayor, who said he's seen Wowk walk all over the city, joked that he'd hire him to hand out his campaign literature.

Wowk said he gets moral support from his wife, his two daughters and his doctor, Demetrius Rizos of Beverly Hospital.

Wowk's ultimate goal is to travel the equivalent of Earth's circumference: 24,902 miles. He's more than halfway there. Already, his 15,000 miles are roughly five times the distance between Boston and Los Angeles.

Wowk spends six hours walking 20 miles every day. The retired security guard walks so much that pedometers can't keep up with him. They quit at 2,000 miles, he said.

"Pedometers aren't accurate," the Peabody resident said. "They break after a while."

Wowk has driven the outdoor routes to tally his mileage accurately. He can also calculate his distance by the time it takes to finish, he said.

When the weather is extreme, he walks at the Liberty Tree Mall. The indoor walks are quicker because he doesn't have to wait for traffic and the route is flat. But it's boring, he said.

His signature drink is green tea, which he always carries with him.

"It's very healthy," he said. "It gives you a lot of stamina."

He rotates among three pairs of New Balance sneakers that he purchased in April 2007. He wore his special white pair yesterday.

Wowk said he can't jog. It just doesn't work for him.

"But I can walk forever," he said. "I don't know why. It's weird."

Leo Poldoian of US Alliance Credit Union in Danvers said he sees Wowk circling the mall regularly, carrying his signature bottle of green tea and talking with everyone in the mall.

"Almost every day we see him unless it's really nice out," Poldoian said. "On the real hot days or rain, he'll be walking around the Liberty Tree Mall."

One step at a time

Wowk's steps into history started in 1993. He started as a way to lose weight, and he did, shedding 20 pounds in the process. At the time, he lived with his family in Hamilton and walked 21/4 miles daily.

But by 1998, he started having trouble breathing. Wowk struggled to walk even short distances. He would soon learn that he had kidney disease.

"I was getting weaker and weaker," he said.

In July 2000, he received the shock of his life: He had end-stage renal disease. Both kidneys failed, and he ended up on emergency dialysis.

By that time, Wowk had already walked 5,400 miles.

The sudden onset of renal disease had Wowk's doctors asking questions about his family history. He learned his father had died of kidney failure in 1961, when Wowk was just 9. Medicine was unable to help his father, Wowk said.

Now he's determined to help others. Wowk has dedicated his walking to his father and hopes to spread the message that people should be screened for kidney disease.

"He didn't have a chance," Wowk said of his father. "It's good to check the signs and symptoms early."

Rizos, his kidney specialist, said no biopsy or medical test was done in 1961 to verify genetic kidney disease, but his patient does have hereditary nephritis.

After Wowk's kidneys failed, he needed dialysis. But the always-in-motion Wowk loathed his four-hour sessions, three times a week over two years.

"We call it an oil change," he said. "I couldn't stand it."

Wowk was also placed on the transplant list. He continued walking, albeit shorter distances of about two miles.

After two years, he received home dialysis through a catheter. He underwent the process while he slept.

"At 8 in the morning, I was done," Wowk said. "I had the whole day to myself."

That lasted about two years until an infection sent Wowk back to the dialysis center. He endured, knowing his time for a transplant was drawing closer.

"I bit my tongue, and I stayed in there," he said.

Knowing he had inherited kidney disease, Wowk turned down offers of a kidney from his brother and daughters. He worried they might fall prey to the disease, too.

Besides, Wowk said he was confident a match would be found outside his family.

"I don't know how I knew, but I just knew," he said.

Around the five-year mark, as others pestered him about his transplant prospects and as Christmas neared, Wowk said he did something he'd never done before. On Christmas Eve 2005, he said a simple prayer to his guardian angel: "I think I'm due for a kidney."

His call from Massachusetts General Hospital came at 6:30 the next morning.

"I must have one powerful guardian angel," he said.

Wowk said the four-hour operation went forward without complications. The kidney was a perfect match. His health has been stable since then.

Rizos, Wowk's doctor for the past year, was so inspired by his patient that he decided to run the Boston Marathon next year for the National Kidney Foundation. The kidney specialist said Wowk is a patient who "catches your attention."

"It's hard not to be motivated, talking to him," the doctor said. "It's usually the physician motivating the patient. But with him, it's the other way around."

http://www.salemnews.com/punews/local_story_197004159.html