"Why I Run"

“Why I Run”

Even as the words rolled off my tongue, they sounded ridiculous to me.  They were in response to a question posed by my younger brother, as we relaxed on his patio deck, sipping cool libations, on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in May some years ago.  I was on the verge of my 49^th birthday, somewhat of a milestone since after that late day in May I would technically be starting my 50^th year. 

“Do you do any kind of exercising,” he asked.

And then the absurd response: “nope, I just don’t have the time,” I quipped.  I then chronicled a lame catalogue of daily activities that precluded me from finding as little as 15 to 30 minutes during a 24 hour period for any kind of physical activity.  I think he was mildly relieved, because he wasn’t doing much in the way of exercising either: really nothing more strenuous than walking to and from a golf ball from a golf cart.  And so we sat together satisfied that we both were too busy to bother with the gym, pool, road, whatever.  We sipped our cocktails and savored the hickory smoke wafting by us from the grill, where his famous loin back ribs were slowly approaching blue ribbon perfection.  I rocked back in my chair, heavier than I had ever been in my life, in fact wearing a new pair of stretch-band shorts, and an X-large flowing t-shirt.  I eagerly awaited the feast to come, but continued to laugh internally at the thought of -exercise? I just don’t have the time…

After coming to terms with the hilarity of my too busy to exercise schedule, I actually started a walking program.  And then one day while out on a brisk walk, a thunderstorm popped up.  It was either pick up the pace by running, or get wet, or worse -electrocuted.  But, I had always hated running.  It was too jarring, too painful, too much work.  But, with no great alternatives, I stepped it up to a jog, kicked it back the mile or so to my house and to my surprise it didn’t suck.  This encouraged me to try it again, and again, and again and…  In July I entered a 5K.  And then I was hooked.  The crowds, the energy, the endorphins!  A couple months later, I decided to attempt a truly heretofore absurd challenge: run a ½ Marathon.  I chose the St. Jude Memphis ½ Marathon in December because, well it was local.

So, did hitting  the road mean shedding hundreds of pounds, running the Boston Marathon, becoming a perennial contender in my age-group in 10K’s, ½ Marathons, Marathons, Ultra’s, etc.?  No, not exactly.  I did lose about 20 lbs. and 5+ years later I’m still on the road; but if I were to compare my running to golf, -as a runner I can’t break 100.  It takes me 30 minutes to run a 5K and two and a half hours to run a ½ Marathon, but I love it. It reminds me of my father’s love affair with golf.   He was a very good athlete, a pro baseball prospect in fact, but one of the most challenged golfers I’ve ever played with; it didn’t seem to matter how much he worked at it, no matter how many lessons, books read, range balls hit.  Some of his shots would be Youtube sensations today, if only we could’ve filmed those errant shots some 40 years ago.  But, he absolutely loved it.  I get that now.

I still remember that chilly December Saturday morning, nervously filing into my corral, -about 10 miles from the starting line it seemed, and I noticing these folks around me wearing maroon Heroes singlets over their shirts and jackets, and I wondered, what’s up with that?  I discovered they were St. Jude Heroes, and they seemed to get more than their fair share of attention from the crowds as we made our way through the cheering streets of Memphis.  What exactly is a St. Jude Hero I wondered?  A few days after I finished the run (yes I did finish…Goal one of my first ½ Marathon –check!) I looked into the St. Jude Heroes program and decided, next year! I’m going to run the race as a St. Jude Hero. 

I did stick with running through the next year, and I did run the race as a St. Jude hero.  And I’ve run as a St. Jude Hero each year since and each time it enriches me.  Yes me.  I raise funds for the hospital, and that enriches me.  I, as Danny Thomas often referred to himself, am a proud beggar when it comes to this place.  I have never felt bad about asking for a donation, and I am always profoundly touched when someone takes the time to make a contribution.  In this endeavor I am continually amazed by the generosity of the human spirit when someone donates money, time, prayers, themselves to help complete strangers, to give these kids and families the one thing they have clearly run out of when they walk into that lobby of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital: Hope.

Last year the highlight of my race weekend was the Heroes Pasta Party on the Friday night before the race.  There were 100’s of other Heroes, their friends and family members. The food was amazing; the feeling of the room was electric.  I especially enjoyed sharing a meal and table with our Danny’s Dreamers Heroes team –a first time as a team effort, and members of the Heroes Team support staff from St. Jude who were in contact with Heroes throughout the year. 

That evening a patient’s family from St. Jude told their story: a young girl had given bone marrow to her younger brother a few years earlier.  Triumphantly they both stood with mom and dad, healthy and beaming from the stage, telling their story to a teary eyed group who had just helped in raising $4 million for the hospital.  The young sister had personally raised over $40,000 as a St. Jude Hero.  What can you say to a 12 year old girl who gives her bone marrow to her kid brother and raises that kind of money?  Thank you? Can I have your autograph?  Hand me a tissue, please?

In today’s world we think of great visionary’s like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerburg, -you can fill in the blank with your own world changer.  I think of those men as engineers of enhancements for the individual.  The personal computer; the Iphone, Facebook…  But, how about a man over 50 years ago, while on his knees in prayer, nearly broke, was thinking of a world where children with catastrophic illnesses are treated without regard to race, creed, or financial status; where these children are not only treated and cared for with love and compassion, but the causes of the diseases are researched as well, and thus more effective treatments are developed to ensure future generations won’t have to suffer the same indignities.  And then, those groundbreaking treatments and discoveries are freely shared with doctors and hospitals all over the world.  No child or family pays for treatment at St. Jude.  Lodging and transportation are provided for those traveling from out of the area.  Protocols and discoveries are shared freely to help children all over the world.  How does that sound as a business model?  The thing is, it’s a human model, for all of humanity.  It’s a $1.8 million a day operation funded by the ground up by thousands of events, millions of people, $10, $20, $50, $100 at a time.  It’s a reflection of what’s best about the human race –the collective spirit of giving and sacrifice of self, for total strangers in need.

One of the things St. Jude is most famous for is that no child is ever turned away because of an inability to pay.  But, what does that mean?  I heard a story of a family from Minnesota who was told they needed to take their 11 year old son to St. Jude in Memphis, TN.  “Today,” if possible they were told.  So they rushed home in a blur, packed up suitcases then headed to the bank to make transfers, withdrawals, and such with their meager funds, thinking the worst about what something like this was going to cost, yet willing to spend it all and more to save their child’s life.  When they arrived at St. Jude they were astonished that no one asked them for any money.  Not one penny for co-pays, or deposits, or “extras.”  St. Jude figures cancer is enough to worry about, let’s take the financial burden off of these families.  And that is a life-time commitment. A family can literally arrive at St. Jude with a desperately sick child, receive millions of dollars worth of care and treatment, and never spend one single penny. That’s a healthcare plan I want to be part of.

And how are the families treated at St. Jude?  Of course the kids are given the best care and treatment available…but what about the families?  One family came to St. Jude but unfortunately, their child didn’t make it.  He earned his Angel’s Wings, as it is known when a child passes.  St. Jude is working towards 100% cure rates, but they’re not there just yet. The child had a form of cancer that the symptoms of last days are particularly difficult.  When the parents returned home and were visiting with the parents’ of another child, who had suffered the same type of cancer but was treated at another hospital, the other family lamented: “those last days were so terrible.  “We can’t get that image out of our minds… the blood oozing from her eyes, and ears.  Wasn’t that the worst,” they asked?  The St. Jude family was puzzled because they hadn’t witnessed anything like that at all.  They contacted St. Jude to inquire about it, and they were told that their child had been given a drug that alleviated those symptoms.   Their child was kept comfortable and pain free in his last hours, but these parents were spared the last memory of their child with this horrific scene.   That drug treatment alone costs thousands of dollars, and had no direct effect on the child’s care; but it did allow his parents’ to not have to go through excruciating suffering watching their child die in such a heartbreaking  condition.

When Danny Thomas was first putting together his idea of a hospital helping children, he was advised to include the work of research.  They reasoned it was not enough to just care and treat these diseases; they wanted to also help find out what caused them, and ultimately how to prevent them.  That’s why it’s named St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.  In the 50 years that St. Jude has been around, some childhood cancer rates have improved from a 4% survival rate to over 90% survival.  Imagine in 1962 100 children with cancer standing in front of you and only 4 would survive.  And today, 90 of those children are surviving, and thriving.

In one of its largest and most ambitious undertakings,  millions of dollars are being utilized to try and unlock the mystery of why some genes have hooks and crooks gone awry that cause some childhood cancers.  In concert with Washington University in St. Louis, researchers are working on the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project.  

“Launched in early 2010, the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project is the world's largest effort and investment to date to understand the genetic origins of childhood cancers. The three-year project will cost an estimated $65 million. St.Jude is covering $55 million of the cost, including a $20 million commitment from Kay Jewelers, a long-standing partner of St. Jude. This is the first major privately funded human genome sequencing project to share its data as soon as it becomes available. To date, this type of open access has largely been restricted to government-funded efforts. Non-government efforts are typically treated as proprietary.”  

With most childhood cancers, the best chances of survival are based on early detection and treatment.  The Pediatric Genome Project offers a real possibility that someday a child still in the mother’s womb could be diagnosed and treated.  That child could be born without the ticking time bomb of cancer that may show up as a tumor or a blood disease some 10 or 11 years later and would require much more difficult treatments or even loss of life.  Now that’s a miracle!

So, why do I run?  I run for health, for the endorphins, for camaraderie, but most of all I run for the kids at St. Jude.  For me it’s a year round endeavor.  I sign up in May, and ask my family to donate to my Heroes fund in lieu of birthday gifts.  I train through the hot summer months, but during those runs I’m running for the kids too. I blather on and on about what’s happening at St. Jude to my mostly receptive running buddies, who also run for the kids…clearly, how could they not?  I run other races throughout the year, but they are all in preparation for that first weekend in December, when I look forward to running the streets of Memphis in my Heroes singlet, having made a difference in the lives of kids and parents and families I’ll never know. 

I think running is a sport perfectly suited for the most self centered of individuals –the lone wolf.  And yet, though it may be suited for self centeredness, I don’t find that to be the case.  In my experience, from that first 5K race in July ’07 until today, I have found the running community to be welcoming and encouraging.  The elites, or top finishers in most races jog back the race route, cooling down, cheering us bringing-up-the-rear-runners.  There’s always food and fun and conversation awaiting us at the finish lines, even if it takes a while for some of us to get there.  For all the lone runs, medals, awards, and Personal Records, running is really more about community.   And so, I encourage you to join in this community mission of hope; bring a child, a family along with you on your training runs, your races throughout the year, and of course on that first Saturday in December.  Bring them along with you in spirit.  Share in their joy, their pain, their hope, kind of like your running, as you -Run for a Reason. 

(For those who have registered for the St. Jude Marathon Weekend, but haven’t signed up as a St. Jude Hero, you can still sign up to be a Hero. Just go to www.stjudeheroes.org for information.  Or you can contact a Heroes Specialist at 800-608-2936 for more information.  You can also run as a St. Jude Hero in other races around the country.  For more information on this go the same website: www.stjudeheroes.org.  St. Jude provides a personal Heroes web page, and lots of great tools to make your fundraising easy and convenient.)