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Phil Volker is a man who believes his cancer was a gift. The film, Phil’s Camino, captures his personal story – an inner journey that begins when he builds a backyard camino, then walks 900+ laps on his property near Seattle, WA, and eventually continues on to make a 500-mile pilgrimage across Spain’s Camino de Santiago, and begins again with a triumphant return home to Vashon Island. When faced with a cancer diagnosis, Phil opts not to allow circumstances to define him. Instead he starts walking. And much to his surprise, he finds emotional and spiritual healing in addition to physical strength and resilience during his chemo regimen. His secret? A mindful approach to life, one that replaced his initial fear and anger with determination, simplicity, and joy in the present moment. His remarkable journey is one of hope, acceptance and freedom, providing food for thought for those facing a health crisis as well as those just living life.
Watch the trailer!
Join us for a complimentary screening of Phil's Camino. Register today using the link above and watch anytime between Saturday, April 17 and Sunday, April 25. Once you register you will receive a confirmation with directions on how to access the film.
Join us Thursday, April 22 at 5:30 p.m. when Tina Staley, Pathfinders Co-Founder, licensed clinical social worker and author hosts a virtual discussion and Q&A with Phil via Zoom. Register using the link above and you will receive a confirmation with the Zoom link.
*These are free events but registration is required and donations are always welcome.
Meet Phil Volker
Phil Volker, Cancer Commando. Phil Volker was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2011 and in 2014 learned his cancer had metastasized to his liver and lung. At the suggestion of his rehabilitation physician, Dr. David Zucker, he embarked upon an exercise program focused on walking and being in the outdoors. Taken with the idea of pilgrimage, Phil built a trail, or camino, on his own Vashon Island property, and walked over 909 laps chronicling his progress as if he was walking the Camino del Santiago across Spain. Through a series of small miracles and remarkable coincidences, Phil met Annie and together created their first film, and premiered it in 2015. Phil’s story is part medical, part athletic, part historical, part religious, and part spiritual as well. He believes his cancer has connected him to a whole new world of gratitude, awareness, and healing, all of which he believes have kept him alive.
Annie O’Neil, is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, director, and producer. She made her first film in high school and since then has devoted her life to film, the performing arts, and to inspiring cancer patients. A camino walker herself, she was a featured pilgrim in the 2009 documentary Walking the Camino: Six Ways to Santiago which she also co-produced. Walking 500 miles along the Camino de Santiago in Spain had a profound effect on every part of her life, the lessons of which she transcribed in a book, Everyday Camino with Annie. She met Phil Volker in 2014, and the rest is history. It was Phil’s personal journey that was the inspiration for the award-winning short, Phil’s Camino, that Annie directed and produced that premiered at SXSW in 2016. In October of 2018, Annie finished Phil’s Camino: So Far So Good, the feature-length version, that had its world premiere in Indianapolis at the Heartland Film Festival where it won the Best World Premiere Award for Documentary. Currently Annie is working on a documentary about diversity that features her choir, a truly diverse group of people who make more than just music together.
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