Last modified: Saturday, July 15, 2006 10:40 AM EDT Dennis Kinch finishes his 2,400 mile walk BY RICK FOSTER/SUN CHRONICLE STAFF SANTA MONICA, Calif. - Wearing a sweat-stained T-shirt and a floppy hat, chronic pain sufferer Dennis Kinch brought his 2,400-mile walk against chronic pain to a triumphant conclusion Friday, nine months after embarking on his epic journey down historic Route 66 in Chicago. `` Done!'' exulted the 51-yearold former Attleboro resident who said he took up the walk to draw attention to the needs of an estimated 75 million Americans who suffer from chronic or debilitating pain. Kinch, surrounded by dozens of supporters and patients from across the country, ended his tour at Santa Monica's Third Avenue Promenade only several hundred yards from the Pacific Ocean. The conclusion of the trip coincided with a fair sponsored by the National Pain Foundation designed to spotlight the latest treatments for people who suffer chroic pain. Kinch was congratulated at the gathering by nationally recognized pain experts as well as California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who sent a proclamation to be read in Kinch's honor. `` Dennis is a hero to me and he's a hero to almost 80 million people who are in chronic pain,'' said Dr. Elliott Krames of San Francisco, head of the Pacific Pain Treatment Center and a founder and co-chairman of the NPF. `` Dennis, I can't tell you how much this has meant to all of us.'' Krames drew appreciative applause when he pulled out a pair of bronzed walking shoes -- Kinch's -- and presented them to him as a memento. Krames and other pain specialists say chronic pain sufferers suffer from an `` invisible disease'' whose causes are often obscure and who often are disbelieved or have trouble finding support from health care providers or insurers. Many have called for changes in the way pain treatments are reimbursed to allow more of the afflicted to get relief. A bearded Kinch, looking thin and suntanned, credited a support team that included NPF staffers and volunteers for helping to keep him going. `` This isn't something I did by myself,'' he told the crowd. `` All of you were a part of this.'' Kinch showed a rare emotional side when he introduced long-time friend Susan Austin of Colorado, a recent amputee who he said shrugged off her own medical problems to help map routes around obstructions on the trip. Kinch was diagnosed in 2004 with Paget's disease, a degenerative bone condition, as well as a rare form of arthritis that attacks the spine and body joints. The effects of the pain forced him to abandon his career as a chef, caused him to lose a house he owned in Colorado and even to give up the care of his two teenage daughters. Initially frustrated and angry over the inability of insurers and the healthcare system to help him, Kinch said he eventually developed his own philosophy for dealing with pain after experimenting with walking and various kinds of treatment and therapy including aquatic therapy he underwent at the Attleboro YMCA. Kinch said he hopes his efforts to raise the awareness of chronic pain and its treatment will help bring hope to pain sufferers and begin changes in the way pain is treated by health care officials and insurers. `` I don't feel like a hero, but a person who went through something just like thousands of other people did,'' he said. `` But this (the walk) was something that had to be done to let people know that there's hope, that they can educate and help themselves and there are professionals and doctors out there who are on our side.'' Kinch said he plans to spend a few weeks recuperating in California prior to a planned bus tour at which he plans to revisit many of the people and locations along his route. He also plans to spend a month or so visiting in Attleboro when he returns to the East Coast. Kinch plans to reunite with his youngest daughter, Kayla, 16, who is now living in England, and plans to eventually relocate in either Colorado or the Boston area. He says he intends to write a book about his experiences and has been filmed to appear in a movie documentary.