WORCESTER, Mass. - A man's 300-mile journey to raise awareness about Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy began in Central Massachusetts Saturday morning.

Jim Raffone started at Patrick Subaru in Shrewsbury, and he will be running and walking 300 miles all the way to New Jersey in support of the cause. Called '300 Miles of Love,' Raffone started the walk after his son was diagnosed with DMD. The New Jersey native then started his nonprofit Jar of Hope in response.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a pediatric disease which causes muscles to deteriorate and break down. There is still no cure. Less than 20,000 boys in the United States are living with the disease. Raffone's goal is to raise $100,000 and one of his stops Saturday was the campus of UMass Medical School.

"My son comes here to be seen by the clinic up here, the Duchenne clinic," Raffone said. "So he goes through a battery of tests over three days between seeing a cardiologist and neurologist. Then he see physios, regular GP or general practitioner, to make sure that everything, all his organs, are working correctly. His heart maintaining function properly just to sustain life right now until we can find something that could potentially create a protein, known as dystrophin, in these children's bodies to protect muscle tissue from either being excreted out the body or turning to fibrotic tissue."

Patrick Subaru in Shrewsbury donated $1,000 Saturday. Raffone will be joined by two others this year. Sunday, July 18 is currently planned as the final day of the walk, where they will walk the last 37 miles and finish at Frogbridge Day Camp in Jackson, New Jersey.