June 20, 2001
Read races for leukemia cure
Traverse City man running marathon in memory of mother who died of disease
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
When he was eight years old, Tom Read lost his mother, Julia, to leukemia. Now, nearly 20 years later, he is doing something to help other families struggling with the disease: running.
Part of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training, Read will run a marathon in Anchorage, Alaska, on Saturday to raise $10,000 toward research and education.
An experienced runner, Read has run the Bayshore marathon two times and is a former track and cross country coach at Traverse City St. Francis High School. He is halfway toward his fundraising goal and ready to put rubber to road.
"These people with leukemia are in a marathon for their life," Read said. "They have to struggle with it every day. A marathon is hard, too, but it is only a one-time event. They face their illness every day."
Combining a solo sport with such a team-related goal is not such a stretch, said Jeff Gaft, the local Team in Training running coach.
"I think many people look at running a marathon as an individual, selfish thing," he said. "But when these runners take it to this level, doing it to help others, it is something bigger than themselves."
Read, a financial advisor with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, has deep roots in the community. A native of Traverse City and a 1993 graduate of St. Francis High School, he first turned to family and friends for support. A flyer in the weekly bulletin at St. Francis Church started off the wider fundraising effort. Read also held a fund-raiser at North Peak Brewing Company, where he used to work as bar manager.
Read is running the marathon in memory of his mother and his grandmother, Elaine Read, who died of cancer two years after his mother. He is also offering to run in memory of others to raise his personal stake in the marathon.
While he is also running in honor of someone chosen by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, a standard practice of Team in Training runners, Read decided to make his effort more broad because of his personal experience with leukemia.
"When I was doing the fund-raiser at North Peak, I wore the T-shirt and said if you make a donation in someone's name I will add the name to my shirt," Read said. "It went very well and I heard some touching stories; I've even had names come in the mail where people ask me to run in this person's memory."
Read has 20 names so far inscribed on his T-shirt, with his mother and grandmother heading the list.
"This has been a nice experience, just to see the support from the community," he said.
Gaft, manager of Running Fit in Traverse City, has coached Team in Training marathon runners for the past four years, helping them with training schedules, fundraising, running tips and marathon advice. He will even run with them during training if asked. While he has worked more intensively with other novice marathoners, he is mainly serving as a guide and sounding board for a veteran runner like Read.
"I try to go along with whatever they are up to and sometimes the more experienced runners don't need a lot of attention," Gaft said.
To contribute to Tom Read's effort, send a check to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, 1028 Boyd, Traverse City, 49686.
The next Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Team in Training Marathon is scheduled for mid-December in Honolulu, Hawaii. Jeff Gaft will host a sign-up session for this marathon at Running Fit on Thursday, July 19, at 6:30 p.m. For more information, call 933-9242 or the Michigan office of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society at 1-800-456-5413.