Close to 100 walkers, runners, bikers and even wheelchair rollers moved along a forest preserve trail in Libertyville last weekend, constantly encouraging those they passed to keep up the good work, to stay the 4 1/2-mile course. Participants were not competing against each other; they were competing against cancer. And winning.
The event was the Third Annual Making Strides Move-along-athon, sponsored by the Lake County Unit of the American Cancer Society for cancer survivors, their families and friends and volunteers.
Walk-athon chairman Carrol Working sent participants off with heartening words: ”Cancer will be beaten in our lifetime. The race is not over for us.”
Working, who has headed the event as a volunteer since its inception three years ago, knows the importance of support, moral and financial. She works with cancer patients and families as Lake Forest Hospital`s social work director.
Participants have collected about $10,000 in walk-athon pledges. But dollar amounts are not based on how far a person goes. ”It`s just that they do go,” Working said.
As committee member and cancer survivor Jill Koeppen of Vernon Hills said: ”Some of the people here who are going through treatment such as chemotherapy and bone marrow transplants may not be able to make the entire route. We`re just happy they are here. And we`re doing more than raising money by walking. This is a coming together. It`s a special time.”
Koeppen, who underwent breast cancer surgery more than four years ago, talked about why she came out. ”I`m here to support others. I received so much support when I went through my surgery and treatment. I want to do this for someone else,” Koeppen said, strolling the trail with husband Gus Stieber and son Devin, 6.
The walk-athon was more than a stroll through the park, even though the path wound through the woods and meadows of the Old School Forest Preserve.
For some people, such as brain tumor survivor Darryl Didier, 26, of Lincolnshire, the event was another opportunity to cross off a specific goal on his long list of challenges: walking more than a quarter of a mile without a cane. Accompanied by parents Jean`e and Al and friends and by determination, Didier hit a personal best of almost three miles.