Six ultra-endurance runners have set out to help conquer childhood cancer during the month of July in their event 24-4-24. Their goal–24 days, 2,400 miles covered collectively between them. Why 24? 24 represents the number of beds for cancer fighters at Milwaukee Children’s Hospital and the number of hours each day the runners have to complete their daily marathon goals.
All fundraising efforts from this event will go to benefit the Snowdrop Foundation’s Wisconsin Chapter benefiting the kids at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. The Snowdrop Foundation is dedicated to funding continued research to eliminate childhood cancer and provide college scholarships to childhood cancer fighters and survivors.
The unique thing about this specific event, 24-4-24, is that the athletes are not carving out special time to complete their mission. Rather, they must find the time in their everyday schedule to complete their daily goals. “It’s really quite similar to the life a parent of a cancer child leads once their kid is diagnosed,” says Kline, one of the participating athletes. “Life doesn’t stop, you just figure out a way to adjust your schedule to accommodate what needs to get done.” Participants include, Tim Cunningham from New York, NY…emergency nurse and international philanthropist, Brian Gruender from Appleton, WI…Snowdrop Foundation, Wisconsin Chapter President, programmer/analyst, husband, father of four, Kevin Kline from Houston, TX, Snowdrop Foundation President and morning radio host and Lyndsey Nelson from San Francisco, CA, a veteran endurance runner.
On the team’s event page, fans can check in with the runners and their daily missions as they share their thoughts, times and distances.
Josh, one of the runners checks in with his daily stats and reflections–“The last couple days I have struggled with the fact that running seems to have “consumed” my whole life. I have felt like I am spending all of my time either running for thinking of the next run. As I struggle with this, i suddenly realized that this is nothing compared to what a pediatric cancer patient must go through daily, They cannot hide from cancer. They cannot take a break from cancer. It changes everything, and they cannot have a “normal” life, even though that is all they want. It is a constant mental and physical presence in their daily life. Their whole lives revolve around the next treatment, appointment, hospital visit, etc. Their every thought is consumed with fear, worry and doubt. When I think about it that way, suddenly running 5 hours a day for 24 hours of my life doesn’t seem to be enough. It’s all about perspective. So if running 5 hours a day for 24 days straight is the one thing I can do to try to help raise awareness for pediatric cancer and help find a cure, it’s the least I can do”
If you would like to help encourage this amazing group of childhood cancer advocates, please join them on facebook, We NEGU for team 24-4-24!!