On Nov. 28, 2009, a 15-year-old boy in Atlanta lost his battle with cancer.
More than a year later, two friends from Cam Street's Boy Scout troop are hiking 2,179 miles on the Appalachian Trail in his honor.
Randy Wright, 22, and 2010 Auburn graduate Charlie Timberlake have founded Hike for Cam, a fundraising organization dedicated to Street.
"We couldn't think of anyone better than Cam Street to do this in honor of," Timberlake said.
All donations benefit CURE Childhood Cancer, the National Eagle Scout Association scholarship fund and Scout Troop 304 at The Lovett School in Atlanta.
Anyone can pledge a donation based on the number of miles hiked. For example, a pledge of a penny per mile would be a donation of $21.79.
Timberlake and Wright plan to begin their hike from Georgia to Maine March 22, and the trip will last five to six months.
"The sacrifice that goes into it--much of it is unpleasant," Wright said. "The way I see it, it's something we're doing that most people would not want to do. It's going to be costly in terms of our time and money. I look at it as a way people can live vicariously though us."
Cam was diagnosed with cancer when he was in sixth grade. The first symptom was pain in his left ankle, thought to be an ankle sprain.
"It turns out it wasn't a sprained ankle--it was cancer," said Janet Street, Cam's mother. "That's why it was hurting him so much--because it was growing and basically eating his bones."
Cam had a form of cancer called Ewing's sarcoma, which affects 400-500 people in North America each year.
Cam's father, Bruce Street, said Ewing's sarcoma has an initial cure rate of 80 percent, but with recurrence it drops to 7 percent and eventually zero.
Cam experienced multiple recurrences.
"You hear the statistics, but you always hold out hope and prayer that you'll be the one to find the cure," Bruce said.
Janet said the family took many trips together while Cam was sick, including a ski trip less than a year before he died.
"It was very surreal," she said. "We knew he would die when he got the recurrence. We had no illusions. We kept everything as normal as possible because that's what he wanted."
Timberlake said although becoming an Eagle Scout is usually lengthy, the Troop 304 scoutmaster got Cam's paperwork approved in just a few days.
At the beginning of November 2009, Cam's Eagle Scout ceremony was held at his bedside with a conference call set up for friends to listen long-distance.
Timberlake said remembering what Cam went through will keep him motivated on the hike.
"It's going to be those days when I'm in my sleeping bag, and I'm miserable and really tired and hurting and I don't want to get up and hike, that that big motivational factor is going to kick me into gear and make me get up and want to hike," Timberlake said.
Donations can be made at www.hikeforcam.org.
"One of the things I've learned through this whole thing is people are a hell of a lot nicer than I am," Janet said. "What people have done for our family is just incredible. That so much good could come out of something so crappy, it just gives your heart warmth. That's what makes this world go round."
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