BOSTON -- Someday, Dennis Kinch may no longer be able to walk.

But the former Attleboro resident who suffers from two degenerative bone dis eases is taking advantage of the time he does have to walk across the country to draw attention to the prob lem of chronic pain.

`` I'm feeling good; I'm at about 90 percent,'' said Kinch, who flew to Boston from a personal, 2,400-mile odyssey walking from Chicago to Los Angeles to receive an award Tuesday from the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission.

`` It's great,'' he said. `` I've got only 600 miles to go.''

Kinch, 51, worked for years as a chef in Colorado before moving to Massachu setts in 2002. But his back condition reduced him to a host of symptoms, forcing him to give up his job, his house and even custody of his two daughters.

Rather than accept his lot, Kinch sought help from the Massachusetts Rehabili tation Commission and vocational counselor Andrea Krinsky, who helped him connect with therapy.

After receiving treatment and counseling in pain man agement, Kinch found he could make progress by being patient with himself and waiting for his body to recover from exercise, instead of demanding more of it every day.

`` Do what you can, when you can,'' is the catch phrase coined by Kinch, who has shared his philoso phy with hundreds of chron ic pain patients, doctors and health care managers as he walks across the country.

Kinch, who had previously made a 400-mile solo trip from Boston to Washington, D.C., left Chicago in September, walking south and west along historic Route 66.

Tabbed as the official spokesman of the National Pain Foundation, Kinch has logged 1,600 miles on foot over hills, across prairies and through cities carrying his message of hope to chronic pain sufferers, a group that includes more than 75 million Americans.

The former Attleboro resident's trek so far has reached Arizona, but his pace has slowed because of an increasing demand for him to appear on television programs, speak at medical conventions and accept awards.

Kinch was presented Tuesday with the rehabilitation commission's Distinguished Consumer Award for his role as a traveling ambassador for chronic pain research and management.

Kinch will stay in Massachusetts until Sunday, when he will return to Arizona, prior to resuming his trek.

Kinch, whose next challenge is to cross desert lands, hopes to reach Los Angeles in June.