"Uncle Buck" Hikes for a Cure to Leukemia

The Daily American, "Somerset County's Newspaper," (in Pennsylvania) has an article by Vicki Rock titled "Local man to hike trail in nephew's honor" in its 7 March 2007 issue.

Somerset resident "Mark Shaffer is going to hike the entire Appalachian Trail in memory of his nephew, Eric Shaffer, 24, who died of leukemia" a year ago. It's a fund-raising hike, like so many others, but this one is also somewhat poignant because the elder Shaffer had been thinking about hiking the Trail someday and only learned at his nephew's memorial service that the younger Shaffer had dreamed of making the hike himself. Mark takes the first step on 17 March, the anniversary of Eric's death.

Shaffer has himself a web site to chronicle the hike. His chosen trail name, Uncle Buck, is what his late nephew called him.