John Shinar, strategic account director for St. Paul, Minn.-based 3M has been in the industry for 40 years. During his first 20 years with the company he was involved in many different areas – from advertising, to commercial graphics, to food safety and eventually moving fully into healthcare 2 years after moving to St. Paul in 1998.
First, he spent a few years in helping run the training for 3M, learning about all the different healthcare products. “It was a wonderful foray into the business of learning about all of what, from Tegaderm to everything else we do,” John said. Since 2005, he has worked in Key Accounts, and starting in 2008 has held sole responsibility for Vizient.
But since 2013, outside of the office, John has been on a personal mission to do what he can to help spread awareness and find a cure for breast cancer.
At Western Michigan University, John met Martha Ann Horner. She was a year younger than he was, but she seemed out of his league.
“I still can’t believe I was able to do it, but I did,” John marveled. “I put a ring on that finger a year before she graduated, because I was already in Houston working for 3M.”
“We got married at a young age and it was wonderful,” John said. A few years later, they started a family. Their son Rob was born in 1987 and daughter Ally followed a couple of years later. John and Martha planned to grow the family more, but in 1991, Martha was diagnosed with breast cancer.
“It was bad,” said John. “She went through radical mastectomy and chemotherapy and the whole regimen.” Even then, the doctors believed that the best course of action would be to remove her other breast, “but they couldn’t say you had to have it done.”
Meaning that the potentially life-saving procedure wouldn’t be covered by their insurance company.
“This is [the kind of time where] you learn about the company you work for – because my company actually stepped up and paid for that surgery,” John said. “I’m a firm believer that that gave us the extra 20 years we were able to get.”
Unfortunately, 20 years later, the cancer returned and Martha passed away in 2012.
Since then, John has made it his mission to do what he can to find a cure, by channeling his energy to walking for the cure. “I just don’t want to see any other families have to go through that pain,” he said.
“I knew that they had the Race[s] for the Cure because Martha and I actually had done those together,” he said. But other than the few races the couple had done, he didn’t know much about them.
A month or so after Martha passed, John had a bad bike accident.
“And now I’m really feeling sorry for myself because I cracked my hip and I was a mess,” he said. “I saw that they had this event in the twin cities, which was a three-day walk, 20 miles a day. And it sounded like something I could do. I thought, ‘Okay, I can walk.’”
In 2013, the Susan G. Komen Foundation had 14 of these events across the country. John signed up for all 14. He had to raise over $30,000 in fundraising to do so.
“And with the support of 3M, who helped me through the process, I went out and walked all 14 of those events all across the country, which was 840 miles of walking,” John said.
“It was during that process, it helped give me my life back,” he said. “The stories you hear, the people you meet and believe it or not along that path – I did not anticipate this, but I met the next Mrs. Shinar. My Lisa is someone who, I know – and she feels the same way – that Martha put us together. And it’s been an amazing union.”
In the last 7 years, John has done 32 of the Komen walks around the country. He had planned to do another two this year, until the COVID-19 pandemic changed everyone’s plans.
“So that’s 120 miles and everything’s been postponed or virtual or whatever,” he said. “So I thought, you know what, I’m still going to do something on my own and decided to do the 120 for Komen. But then I also added another 120 for some reason, for the American Cancer Society for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer for a total of 240 miles.
“And I thought, okay, I’m going to start this on Martha’s birthday, which was June 1. And I’m going to complete it before the day she passed, which was the 27th. So I made a commitment to do 240 miles in 24 days.”
His plan had him making a loop around the twin cities, starting each day in the spot that he had left off the day before.
Just a few days before his walks began, the areas gained the national spotlight because of the protests over the murder of George Floyd, police brutality and social injustice.
Originally, John said he avoided the areas where the protests and riots were taking place because of fear of walking through that area.
“By the time I got to that area, things had calmed down,” and he, his wife Lisa, and his daughter Ally went to the area where George Floyd was killed.
He said the area has been made into “almost like into a sacred site. And the reverence of the people there and how quiet everybody was and so respectful. It was a very emotional spot.
“And then when you sit there and actually think about the fact that a gentleman lost his life at that site, and it has started what has become a worldwide movement, it’s just, it’s awe inspiring, it’s actually awe inspiring.”
On his back, John always carries a picture of Martha with the dates of her time on earth. Since visiting the place where George Floyd died, John has added to the memorial he carries with him.
“I added to that, that our angel has made a new friend and said, ‘Say his name, George Floyd…’ And as I pass people on the route, I was walking upstairs in St. Paul the other day, and some of people stopped and they asked me about it. Somebody on a trail yesterday in Woodbury asked me about it,” John said.
“It breeds conversation, but the right conversations.”
