Dedication to the fight against skin cancer was on display Saturday in Evergreen Park, as about 1,800 people took part in the third annual March4Meg 5K Run/Walk at Klein Park.
The event is held in memory of Meg Moonan, who died three years ago from melanoma.
Her family, including her mother, Nancy Donovan, created the event in her honor.
“When Meg died, it was a horrible time for our family,” Donovan said. “It was hard on all of us, especially her (four) children. That’s why my other daughters and I started to organize this; we wanted to do something positive to help other families struggling with the same thing.”
Donovan, her two daughters (Mary Pat McGeehan and Maureen Kovac) and her niece Meredith McGuffage started March4Meg and held the first walk in 2013. It raised $30,000 for the Advocate Christ Medical Center melanoma research program.
“Our mission is education, awareness, research and helping families,” Donovan said. “The program at Christ does a lot of good work for people with melanoma and we’re glad to be able to help.”
In 2014, the organization raised $60,000. Donovan said she believes they will surpass that figure this year, since three other families who lost loved ones to melanoma partnered with the event: the Griffin family from Orland Park, the Hopkins family from Chicago’s South Side, and the Barry family, of Naperville.
“They reached out to us through our website,” Donovan said, “and we were happy to partner with them. One family brought almost 200 people to the walk today on their own.”
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Donovan said Saturday’s walk went “tremendously,” drawing the large number of supporters despite the cold.
“It was fantastic,” she said. “We have a very strong organization and I don’t think we could have done it any differently. This was the first year we had a tent, which I think helped a lot when the speeches were made, and everything just went very smoothly.”
The top finishers were Elizabeth Lemrise, who three-peated in the women’s division, and David Hickey in the men’s division.
Along with family members, Dr. Adam Riker, the director of the Christ Medical Center melanoma program, spoke before the step-off in appreciation of the money and awareness the organization has raised for the program.
In addition to holding the walk, March4Meg provides information for local health fairs and runs a sun safety day camp in Evergreen Park in the summer. Riker also announced a free skin cancer screening to be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 1 at Klein Park.
For more information about March4Meg and its events, visit march4meg.com.
Jessie Molloy is a freelance reporter.