Leaving the home can be a challenge for Bryan Pratt.

Diagnosed at age 5 with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, a rare and severe form of degenerative muscular dystrophy, at age 9 he lost the ability to walk. For six years, he has required a ventilator.

But 30-year-old Pratt, who most often stays at his parents' Carole and Daryl's Arlington Heights home, looks forward to taking part in the Stevenson High School's Spirit Walk.

Funds raised will go to the Disability Outreach Foundation which Pratt formed three years ago and will be used to buy sports wheelchairs for high school wheelchair basketball athletes in Illinois.

"Considering all that Stevenson High School is doing for my foundation, I wouldn't miss the spirit walk for the world," he said.

A kickoff to homecoming, the seventh annual Spirit Walk will be held Oct. 17. Registration will run from 12:15 to 12:45 p.m. The walk will start at 1 p.m.

Led by homecoming court and fall varsity sport teams, the 4.5-mile walk will begin at the Lincolnshire high school, wind west and south into Buffalo Grove and then return to campus.

A $5 donation is requested although larger donations are welcome. Registration can be done in advance or at the event. The goal is to sign up 1,200 walkers and raise $15,000.

Last year the Spirit Walk raised over $ 22,000 for the Lisa Klitzky Foundation. Pratt said he would be thrilled to get anything close to that.

Buying the wheelchairs, he said, will help the foundation toward its objective to establish wheelchair basketball as a high school varsity sport in Illinois.

The Spirit Walk is organized by Stevenson's Spirit Revolution, the cheerleading and pompon squads, who choose a charity to receive proceeds.

The Disability Outreach Foundation is a lesser known organization, but student activities coordinator Greg Sherwin said the students felt a connection to the cause because it helps teens.

What began as a decision to raise money for the foundation has blossomed into a week-long series to educate students about those with disabilities.

Stevenson will hold its first Wheel Awareness Week starting today. Pratt co-founded this tradition when he attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Four students and one teacher will go through one school day in a wheelchair. Sherwin said they will then talk to school newspaper staff about their experiences.

Stevenson alumnus David Kuriniec will show to all freshmen a 15-minute video he created titled, "How to Interact with Students with Disabilities" Thursday.

The week will conclude with an appearance by Jennifer Warkins, a member of Stevenson's state champion girls basketball teams in 1995 and 1996 and 2004 gold-medal winning U.S. Paralympic women's wheelchair basketball team.

She will discuss the "Socialization of the Wheelchair Athlete" during lunch Friday in the west multipurpose room.

The enthusiasm and dedication of Stevenson's staff and students has been phenomenal, Pratt said. They see the need to provide visibility of students with disabilities.

"The fact that a gold-medal winning graduate of Stevenson will also participate in the events is just icing on the cake," he said.