May 21, 2003

Runners race against leukemia

Area residents raise $4,500 each to participate in Alaska marathon on June 21

By Carol South
Herald contributing writer

      Erika Bolton was a fighter.
      A young woman with a sparkling personality, she had a huge smile and a strong will to live, despite the leukemia that struck her at age 20. Though she died last August, even at the end of her life she kept fighting and continued to think of others who faced the same path.
      "Erika did not want to stop fighting, she wanted to keep going," said her mother Deb Bolton of Traverse City. "She was donating extra spinal fluid and bone marrow to research and she definitely wanted to be able to help other people. She didn't want this to happen to anybody else."
      With a heart still heavy with grief over losing her daughter, Deb Bolton is following in her daughter's footsteps as a fighter. Determined to help others survive leukemia, to help fund research that may find a cure, Bolton is one of ten area residents who are part of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training.
      Team in Training members participate in endurance sports events such as marathons and half marathons to raise money for research and advocacy. The ten area runners and power walkers will participate in the Mayor's Midnight Fun Marathon, scheduled for June 21 in Anchorage, Alaska. Each team member must raise at least $4,500, 75 percent of which will go toward research efforts and 25 percent of which will pay for their transportation to and stay in Anchorage.
      For Bolton, a non-runner five months ago, doing something positive is helping her stay focused.
      "There's been a tremendous amount of grief and I miss her terribly," said Boton, whose running regimen also brings up cathartic doses of tears. "This gives me a focus and I can continue to fight, because nobody should ever have to suffer and die like she did."
      Other members of the team from Traverse City besides Bolton include her daughter Michelle and friend Sue McGrew, also running in Erika's honor. A quartet of stay-at-home moms are also participating as power walkers, including Susan McAuliffe, Stacey Partak, Becky Hart and Ann Porter. Kathy McGee is another participant from Traverse City while Valerie McBain of Charlevoix and Susan Cleere of Gaylord are also on the team.
      Coach Evie Raynard of Cedar guides the team through a rigorous yet gradual training schedule that started in January. Over the weeks and months, the walkers and runners train in four smaller sessions and one lengthy session per week. The get together every other Saturday for a group run or power walk.
      Raynard completed the marathon last year as a Team in Training member and agreed to return this year as the coach. In addition to mapping training routes and helping with physical challenges of the intensive schedule, she also supports her team members' fundraising efforts.
      Giving hours of her time to the help the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is a win-win situation in her mind.
      "I ran the marathon last year and loved it and everything about the Leukemia Society, what they do and what they do for patients," Raynard said. "The days I didn't want to get up and train because it was freezing or hailing, I was like you know these people have died or are fighting for their life."
      "This is the number one killer of children under 14, it is devastating to children and everyone knows someone," she noted.
      The team members are winding up their fundraising efforts, making the final push to meet goal. Each member is responsible for meeting their goal and creativity is key to coming up with thousands of dollars in fewer than six months. Members have hosted hockey tournaments, held a yellow ribbon drive, sponsored a plant sale and worked as a cook at an area restaurant in exchange for the evening's tips.
      McAulliffe, Partak and Hart hosted a cake sale on Sunday at the West Bay Covenant Church. They auctioned donated cakes from area businesses, family members and friends to raise money. The women chose that church in honor of the son of the church's former pastor, Noah Schafbuch, 6, who is fighting leukemia.
      The friends also walked last year in a March of Dimes fundraising walk. They decided in January to take on this bigger project to help family and friends who have been touched by the illness.
      "We remember when raising $100 was a lot of money and walking six miles was a lot," said Hart, whose uncle has leukemia.