Woman to walk to Iowa to raise breast cancer awareness

A woman who is literally walking around the world to raise awareness of breast cancer will be in Iowa later this month. Polly Letofsky left her home in Vail, Colorado in August of 1999 and is now in northern Minnesota. Since she grew up in Minnesota, she plans to cross the state before heading toward Iowa. Letofsky says “I’m going to follow the Mississippi and maybe wiggle in and out of Illinois a little bit, but I wanted to see Mississippi life and that’s another part of Americana that I wanted to get a grip on.” Letofsky has already crossed 22 countries and put on nearly 12-thousand miles. She says her most memorable moment was when she arrived back in the U.S. in April and was able to see the American flag waving up and down the streets in New York City. She’s now on her 25th pair of tennis shoes and says she expects to start number 26 about the time she enters Iowa. Letofsky didn’t have breast cancer herself, but several friends and family members have been afflicted. She plans to finish her walk around the world on August 1st of 2004 in Colorado, five years to the day she started.