BLOOMFIELD, Ia.- An Iowa man is bringing his crusade against cancer to southeastern Iowa on Thursday morning.

Rik Zortman is a father of five who is known as the Human Etch-A-Sketch.  This is because he puts a unique twist on distance running by running in a pattern that spells out a message when you look at his route on a map.

Zortman says that he uses this technique to draw attention and awareness to the fight against Cancer, particulary childhood cancer.  This is a cause that is close to Zortman’s heart after losing his son Armstrong to the disease in 2009 at the age of 3.

As Zortman’s crusade drew more attention, he began to run in honor of others who have battled cancer.

On Thursday morning, Zortman will be running in honor of the former Bloomfield Police Chief Shawn Armstrong, who passed away in July of 2023 at the age of 54 from complications due to a recent kidney transplant.  Zortman learned of the former chief’s story from his son and decided to honor him with a run.  He will spell out the word “Shawn” with his run pattern.  The run will begin southwest of the Bloomfield square on Locust street.

The run will begin around 9 am and the pattern will start with the letter “S” and work from west to eas to finish spelling out “Shawn”.

The community is encouraged to come out and support Rik as well as Shawn’s memory and cheer Zortman on as he runs.

Zortman says that if the public would like to learn more about his cause or would like to support it, they can find more information online.

The run in memory of Shawn Armstrong will begin at 9 am and the public is invited to participate.