Master Robert Zang has a special place in his heart for Patrick Walker.

A member of Zang's first group of students at the Young Brothers Tae Kwon Do school in Butler, Walker died of cancer Sept. 19 at the age of 24.

"He was so self-motivated and dedicated,"Zang said. "He always had so much energy and enthusiasm when he trained.

"This is an individual sport, but that enthusiasm rubbed off on others."

A Butler and Sarver resident, Walker was a second-degree black belt at the time of his death. His goal was to become a fourth-degree black belt and to open a Young Brothers school, as Zang did in Cranberry Township.

"He never stopped pushing toward that," said Mary Anne Walker, Patrick's mother. "He was diagnosed with cancer in 2003 and had restricted motion in his arm (due to chemotherapy), but still did patterns, kicks and worked out when he could. He had good days, bad days.

"Even well before he was diagnosed, Patrick trained with torn ligaments, a stress fracture in his back. Nothing stopped him."

Walker spent 90 percent of the final eight months of his life in the hospital.

"I was by his side the entire time," Walker said. "He talked about how he was going to get better, take a long time to build back his strength, so he could make a difference in people's lives.

"He wanted to show everybody he was a good person with a lot to give."

At 10 a.m. Saturday, Young Brothers will be doing the giving in Walker's honor.

All 10 Young Brothers schools, located in Butler, Cranberry Township, North Hills, Robinson Township, Latrobe, Aspinwall, Mercer, Indiana, Bellevue and Kittanning, are participating in the Break-a-thon Against Cancer.

Tae kwon do students have been collecting donations for the UPMCCancer Center Patient Assistance Fund. Students will break one board Saturday for each increment of $50 they collect.

Grandmaster Young Bo Kong has put together an annual break-a-thon for charity since 1998. Last year's event raised $45,000 for Hurricane Katrina relief.

"It's such an honor for Grandmaster Kong to choose to honor Patrick in this way,"Mrs. Walker said. "Patrick had attended his instructor classes, held each Tuesday by invitation only.

"He was very serious about becoming an instructor. We got him started with Young Brothers when he was 13 because he was suffering from depression, anxiety and low self-esteem.

"Being able to accomplish something on his own through this sport did wonders for his self-esteem and self-discipline. He was proud of what he did,"she added.

Zang estimates more than 1,000 students will be breaking boards Saturday in Walker's memory.

"We have at least 200 at my Cranberry school alone," Zang said. "We've all been touched by people with cancer. Patrick didn't just fight cancer, he wanted to do his part to help find the cure."

Walker has an older brother and sister — Scott and Kim — both of whom were his first stem cell donors.

His mother said the sport helped him to deal with cancer.

"It taught him how to handle difficult situations," she said. "It gave him the spirit and heart to keep living, to keep dreaming ... to never give up and keep moving forward.

"Patrick never, ever would have guessed he touched so many people to have an event like this going on in his name."