THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 9, 1996 TAG: 9606070241
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: 71 lines
The Virginia Chapter of the Leukemia Society of America is looking for Chesapeake runners and walkers willing to go 26 miles for a good cause.
The Hampton-based branch of the charity organization wants novice and veteran runners and walkers to participate in Team In Training, a fund-raising effort that will culminate at the Bermuda Marathon in January.
This is the fourth year the local chapter has been involved in Team In Training, described by the society as a comprehensive program that will take runners and walkers of varying experience levels and prepare them for the rigors of a marathon.
Participants are coached for the marathon and fund-raise as they train, with a goal of raising $2,500. The society provides training instruction and travel to the marathon. Participants gather sponsors.
Randy A. Nieter, a 42-year-old teacher at Atlantic Shores Christian School in Chesapeake, placed ninth among Virginia runners in last year's Team In Training at the Disney Marathon in Orlando, Fla.
Nieter, Atlantic Shores' cross-country coach, had never run a marathon before the event. The teacher lost an uncle to leukemia two years ago, and he lost a student to the disease several years ago.
When one of his runners brought him information about Team In Training, Nieter asked his former student's parents if he could run in their daughter's memory. They said yes.
``It had been a dream to run in a marathon,'' said Nieter. ``And to run in Mora's memory was something extra special.''
Looking for sponsors was the tough part, said Nieter. He managed to raise $2,100 from donations, and came up with the last $400 himself.
After the marathon, Nieter joined 500 other runners at a victory banquet. It is a fond memory, he said.
``It was neat to be part of a group of people like that who had common interests and a common goal,'' said Nieter.
The teacher, who has continued his marathon-running ways, said he is already gathering sponsors for the Bermuda run.
Posted on the bulletin board in his church is a list of people with special needs in his community including, he estimated, about 10 or 12 people in his church family touched by leukemia. Nieter said he is glad to know that he is involved in a charity that hopes to have a cure for leukemia by the year 2000, possibly saving some of the names in his own congregation.
``This made me more aware of what people have to go through to get treatment,'' said Nieter. ``It's good to get to have a part in that.''
The Leukemia Society began the program in 1987, and has seen it grow into an event that is expected to involve 6,000 participants and raise $12 million for research this year.
``We recruit people in the local community who want to help local patients,'' said Tammy L. Butler, program coordinator for the society's Hampton office.
Among the society's efforts that directly impact area leukemia sufferers is an annual $750 grant to anyone diagnosed with leukemia, said Butler. That money can be used for expenses like medicine and mileage.
Butler said, ``There is no income requirement for that money, and no cap on how many people in an area that it can serve.''
And there is the society's continuing research into a disease which kills nearly 150 Americans every day, and is the leading disease killer of children. According to the society, leukemia research has led to treatments for other cancers. Those treatments include chemotherapy and bone marrow transplants.
This is the first year Team In Training has involved walkers. According to Butler, allowing walkers will increase the number of participants and, it is hoped, the dollar amount raised to help fight the disease.
Meetings discussing the event will be held June 18 at 6:30 p.m. in the Radisson Hotel in Virginia Beach, and June 26 at 5:30 p.m. in the Mariott Hotel at Waterside in Norfolk. MEMO: More information on the program is available by calling Tammy L.
Butler at (804) 838-9351. by CNB