Knollwood man walking Route 66 to help work colleague with cancer

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

Route 66 -- the historic highway from Chicago to California -- is now providing a 2,400-mile path for a Knollwood man to help a work colleague.

Alexander Arobelidze, 34, of Knollwood is walking the mother road to its terminus in Santa Monica to raise funds to help pay hospital bills for Joseph Urso, 57, of Vernon Hills, now recovering from pancreatic cancer surgery. They both work at Ferentino’s Pizzeria on Waukegan Road in Lake Forest.

“I’m flabbergasted, amazed someone would do it,” said Urso. “No one in my family has offered to do anything like this. It touched me. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe he was going to do it until he did it.

“I could never do this. I’d be afraid.”

Although Urso’s family and friends support his recovery in other ways, Arobelidze’s trek across America holds its own potential for danger -- and triumph.

One day in Mackinaw City, Mich., last fall, Urso had flu-like symptoms that came and went. He approached general practitioners for a diagnosis, but they could find nothing wrong with him. Common tests told doctors he was alright. They offered to treat the symptoms, but he knew it was important to find out what caused him to get sick.

“I knew my body,” he said, “and I knew something was wrong.”

By being persistent, Urso found someone who identified the stage one tumor in his pancreas and got him to Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights where Dr. Malcolm Bilimoria undertook six hours of surgery. The doctor removed one-third of the pancreas, 24 lymph nodes and his spleen.

“That was my only hope,” Urso said. “Otherwise it would spread. Pancreatic cancer is very dangerous. (Dr. Bilimoria) is one of the top specialists in Illinois. He’s really, really good. I find hope with him.”

Now, Urso is on chemotherapy to kill any lurking cancer cells, radiation therapy is next, and he has five years of CAT scans ahead. So far, medical bills are $300,000, a lot of money for a father with seven children. His own father died of pancreatic cancer.

Out on Route 66 this month, interviewed by cell phone, Arobelidze was near Marshfield, Mo. His grandmother died of cancer, and his father died of complications from liver cancer. He has taken a three-month leave of absence from Ferentino’s Pizzeria and is paying his own expenses.

‘Very liberating’

“I’ve had so many interesting and quite educating experiences in so many ways,” he said. “You see so many kinds of people and cultures. It’s been very liberating.”

When interviewed, Arobelidze was limping from a close encounter with a passing vehicle. A driver in a pick-up truck who swerved from the road to either hit or scare Arobelidze as a joke. He was able to start a leap to safety to avoid the truck.

“I hurt my right foot,” he said of his leap to safety. Other than that negative experience, “I’ve had many best experiences. One of the best experiences was with a woman” whose relative had pancreatic cancer too.

They talked at length about their common emotions and the need for help from friends to get through such diseases and surgery.

Arobelidze carries little money, lives out of a backpack, stops at cheap lodging or safe-looking places for sleep, and relies on disposal cameras and a notebook to record thoughts and notes about his trip and people he meets. He started with two telephones, but one quit working.

Plus, “coffee is a great thing,” he said. “It’s crucial when you walk.”

They have known one another for about a decade. Joe Urso runs Ferentino’s Pizzeria and Arobelidze does some of their marketing efforts. He described Urso as a “super-friendly” person.

He picked Route 66 because it is densely populated and offers safety in that regard. Hikers can not walk on the interstate highway system. He found Route 66 could be walked even if it was an indirect road. Much of it parallels major highways and that offers safety too.

“I did a lot of research on Route 66. The Illinois portion of the road was very interesting,” he said. However, “it is upsetting to see the boarded-up places.”

He started his hike in Joliet and headed south, following the historic Route 66 signs on the old road, much of which runs parallel to I-55. The road passes old landmarks from a by-gone era, businesses that still operate, and restaurants with ties to the highway’s history. He hopes people will hear about what he is doing and contribute money to help his friend pay medical bills.

“I don’t want to make it sound too metaphysical,” Arobelidze said. “It’s not only Joe, not only his kids, but other people getting encouragement. Hope gives you encouragement to fight. There are a lot of people who do this, but we don’t often hear of them.”

Arobelidze is not personally accepting money on his trip, but rather asks folks to send donations to the Lake Forest Bank & Trust. Bank employee Shilpa Patel said donors should make their check out to “Joseph Urso Fund Raiser Account” and mail it to: Lake Forest Bank & Trust, 810 S. Waukegan Road, Lake Forest, Ill., 60045.