California woman makes cross-country journey for healing

Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) - It’s more than going the extra mile. Edie Littlefield Sundby is on a mission to walk the 2,817 miles of the Old Spanish trial from San Antonio, Texas, all the way to Saint Augustine, Florida.

“I walk to live and I live to walk. Walking is my joy,” Sundby said. ”I actually hope the Old Spanish Trail walk lasts as long as I do because I love to walk.”

The steps she’s taken are all about of her healing journey since battling cancer.

“The body is a healing machine, but it requires movement to do its job. So as I’m walking, I’m healing. As I’m walking, my lung is inflating. By the end of this walk I’ll have almost normal lung capacity,” Sundby said.

She lost her right lung in the fight against her stage 4 gallbladder cancer.

This isn’t the first time Sundby has taken a step-by-step journey. She accomplished a previous goal to walk the 1,600-mile El Camino Real de las Californias mission trail that runs through Mexico.

With her best foot forward, she keeps walking.

“The step you just took is in the past. The step you’re about to take is the present, and the step forward is the future,” she said.

As Sundby makes her way through the Bayou State, she is hopeful to make make it to Mississippi by late March. She walks in sections of 10 to 12 miles a day and then starts where she left off.

“Just keep walking. You walk through the pain and all of a sudden you are strengthened. You walk through the fear, you’re empowered,” she said.

As she makes her way down Hwy 90, her husband keeps a close eye on her by driving along the route in their camper and parking about six miles ahead.

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