Jim Cormier remembers his late father awakening at 3 a.m., almost every morning, to go for a five-mile walk. It's a big reason why Cormier organized a walk on the Cape Cod Canal to raise money and awareness for pulmonary fibrosis, the disease that killed his father.

“He was always a walker himself," Cormier said. "A walk is the best way we figured we could get everyone involved. If we did some kind of marathon, some people might be excluded, and we didn’t want that.”

Pulmonary fibrosis is an incurable lung disease, in which scar tissue forms inside the lungs, making it difficult to breathe normally. Cormier's father, also named Jim, died of the disease in 2010.

Cormier said he and his family decided to hold the walk along the Cape Cod Canal in Buzzards Bay, because both parents loved the area. He said his mother, Mary Beth Cormier, a Wareham native who previously worked at the Wareham Free Library, was “basically the driving force behind getting the canal reserved,” and that the folks at the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation were extremely helpful.

“Amazingly enough, it wasn’t that hard to set up,” Cormier said. “We had a bunch of families who had attended other walks, and also wanted to get involved.”

Though the walk isn’t until Aug. 2, Cormier said about 20 people have signed up to walk so far. The cost is $10 per walker and children 13 and under walk free. Cormier said he didn’t want to stipulate that people raise a certain amount of money to be able to walk.

“We just wanted to make it easy for people to come and take a walk with us,” Cormier said.

The 5k walk will begin at 70 Main St. in Bourne on Aug. 2 at 11 a.m. To register for the walk, visit the walk’s registration page. Donations to the walk can be made through the First Giving website. For more information, call Jim Cormier at 617-800-6894, or e-mail him at fightingpulmonaryfibrosis@gmail.com.