'Inclusion, love and healing': AZ Walk of Courage fundraises for burn victims
6th annual AZ Walk of Courage fundraises for burn victims
Hundreds from the Valley came together for the 6th annual Arizona Walk of Courage, tying up their sneakers for a good cause. This event is all about supporting burn victims by raising funds and spreading awareness. FOX 10's Nicole Krasean has more.
PHOENIX - Hundreds of Valley residents laced-up their sneakers on Sunday for the 6th annual AZ Walk of Courage in Peoria.
The walk raises money and awareness for burn victims.
The backstory:
Julie Piccione lost her mom Darlene in 2019 to complications from a burn injury.
Not long after, Julie decided to start Changed by Fire, a nonprofit centered around providing help to burn victims and their loved ones.
"We pay for equine therapy, burn scar massage therapy, hypnotherapy, yoga therapy, we pay for compression garments, and then we partner with local organizations such as Valleywise to help support their causes, as well as to reach burn survivors," Piccione said.
Big picture view:
Hundreds came out to support the important event sponsored by Changed by Fire.
"We have over 500 people here in person participating in a 5K, a 10K and a one-mile run to help spread awareness for burn survivors and help create a community of inclusion, love and healing," Piccione said.
She says that healing is both physical and mental for burn victims.
"Some of their burns may be visible and some may not be visible, and often times, if you’ve never met a burn survivor, and you see somebody with burns, you may be wondering what happened? What’s going on? We just want to normalize that because we all have our own struggles," Piccione explained.
Local perspective:
Among the hundreds taking part in the event was Dillon Ryan, who survived the natural gas explosion in August 2021 at Platinum Printing in Chandler, his place of work at the time.
"In the blink of an eye, our whole company just blew to bits," Ryan said.
He spent two weeks in the hospital and says that finding community with other burn survivors has been crucial to his long-term recovery.
"Everyone that is involved in a burn survivor’s journey equally plays a part in making sure that they succeed, and they’re set up for the rest of their lives," Ryan said.
Ryan says there is only positivity shared at the Walk of Courage.
"It’s never like you come here, and negative emotions get brought up. This is the part that we love. This is the part where we enjoy being out here, and you see the smiles on everyone’s faces and just looking at all the other burn survivors that are here today," Ryan said.