ARLINGTON, Va. ( DC News Now ) — Pat Malone is managing to put his best feet forward at Fire Works Pizza in Arlington.
Malone, 66, of Alexandria, is on a mission as he steps up to stamp out cancer.
Malone is determined to remain on his feet for 24 straight hours at his family’s restaurant, as part of his annual fundraiser that is now in its 10th year.
“There are people who can’t stand up and there are people who are afflicted with cancer and people who are, you know, there might be bedridden or they might be in wheelchairs, whatever,” Malone said. “So I’m kind of doing this really for anybody who’s fighting the battle.”
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Malone is also a cancer survivor. Doctors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center removed a malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor tumor from his shoulder in 2014.
Malone always starts his fundraiser at 4:26 p.m., which is the time he woke up from his surgery.
But Malone may soon have to sit down and watch others fill his shoes. He suffers from hereditary spastic paraplegia, which Malone describes as a mild form of multiple sclerosis (M.S.).