LYNN – When Lynn resident Ricky Preston first traveled to the North Shore to visit family and take part in the North Shore Medical Center’s Cancer Walk, she had no idea that she’d still be walking 18 years later.”This Sunday will be my 18th year, but it really started even before I even moved here,” she said.Preston was living in Philadelphia but came to visit her sister one June and took part in the annual cancer walk for the first time. It became a tradition that she’s built since moving to the area nearly 18 years ago.A nurse practitioner with North Shore Cancer Center when Preston first started the walk, she knew most of the faces because it was a significantly smaller event than it is today. Over 23 years the walk has grown to include thousands of patients, staffers and everyday citizens whose lives have somehow been touched by cancer.There is a tribute wall where people leave messages for loved ones lost to cancer and to the public in general. Some walkers wear T-shirts in recognition of someone fighting cancer or who has succumbed to it.”There is a lot of inspiration,” Preston said. “A lot of people who walk have been treated here. It’s amazing.”And there are those who can’t walk but still help out. Preston said during one of the her early participation years she was sitting in traffic trying to get to The Salem Willows, where the walk starts, when she saw a patient who was battling metastatic cancer.”He was out there directing traffic,” she said. “He couldn’t walk but he wanted to be a part of it.”Many people walk because they feel it’s all they can do, a way of showing support, she added.Preston has also seen first hand how the walk affects the struggle of treating cancer.”Money from the walk helped with this building,” she said, speaking from her office at the North Shore Cancer Center. “It’s allowed us to expand and expand, it’s paid for some of the equipment, it’s really made a difference in the kind of treatment we can give.”Preston was quick to note that none of the money raised during the cancer walk goes to paying salaries. It all goes toward patient care.”And this year money is going for the inpatient unit as well as for ours,” she said.When asked why people should join in Preston said because it’s a great event.”Do it once and you’ll keep doing it,” she said. “It’s a real feel good type of day, it’s a morning walk and you should walk for your own health.”Preston said some people feel they can’t do a 10K, which is 6.2 miles, but she said there is no shame in stopping along the way to listen to music and take in the sights.”It’s not a race or an endurance event, it’s a show of support,” she said.Registration, volunteer, sponsors and WALK Wear tents open at Salem Willows Park for the walk at 7:30 a.m. Sunday and the walk begins at 8:30 a.m. The refreshment tent, open to all walkers, will be open from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Visit www.nsmcgiving.partners.org/walk for more information or to register.Chris Stevens can be reached at [email protected].