By the time you read this, some hearty local souls will brave heat and humidity for a cause that is personal to many of them.
The annual Galesburg-to-Peoria run for St. Jude and its Midwest Affiliate stepped off Saturday at 6am from the city parking lot across from the WGIL studios, ending in time for the annual St. Jude Telethon in Peoria broadcast Saturday evening on WEEK-TV. It’s the first established satellite run of the annual Memphis-to-Peoria run, but dozens more have since been formed.
Marcy Davis is one of the local runners. “I started to run when my son was diagnosed with Leukemia,” says Davis. “It’s just something that I wanted to do, for him, to raise money and help the hospital that saved him.”
Davis says her son is doing well now. In addition to a group of local runners, all of whom have been raising money throughout the last year leading up to Saturday, a group of other volunteers will be driving “support vehicles” — providing refreshments and relief for the runners, and transportation for runners who need a break. Pam Orwig is one of those drivers.
“Our son Bryce was born in 2005 with a malignant tumor along his rib cage,” says Orwig. “He started chemo at a month-and-a-half old. Fast-forward quite a while, and he was diagnosed with a different type of cancer in 2016. St. Jude helped us through that. And, he’s healthy.”
CLICK HERE to donate to the Galesburg-to-Peoria St. Jude run.
As an aside, there may be times throughout the day Saturday that you’ll see groups of runners traveling down US 150 to Peoria, so you’re urged to at least slow down as you pass.
(File photo)
