Skin of Steel walk raises $15,000 with help of local students

Local high-schoolers led the way during the 5th Annual Susan Steel Memorial Fall Walk Oct. 4 along Glenview’s West Fork River Trail.

Event host Skin of Steel has a Junior Auxiliary that comprises students from New Trier High School, Loyola Academy, North Shore Country Day School and other area institutions.

The students helped with set up and clean up as more than 125 walkers sported masks and waking shoes to cover the 1.25-mile loop along the Techny Basin.

With the constant presence of COVID-19, the walk had safety protocol in place, as participants were split into three groups and maintained distance during the walk.

The walk raised more than $15,000 in support of the melanoma tissue bank, a dream of the organization’s namesake and founder, Susan Steel, who battled leukemia until her death in 2016.

The goal of the banks is to collect and study samples in the hopes of identifying biomarkers that will help predict and treat melanoma.

The dream was realized in 2019 when two tissue banks were opened, and this past year, two more were opened, one locally: Robert H Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.