Blood, Sweat & Tears run returns for its 10th year – Lebanon Daily News

AP Top Stories September 12 A

Here's the latest for Monday September 12th: Blackouts in Ukraine after power stations attacked; Queen Elizabeth II mourned in Scotland; Devastating floods in Pakistan; California wildfire growing.

AP

The 10th annual Blood, Sweat & Tears run will take place on Sept. 24 after taking a pause during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Participants have the option to run or walk through a 5-mile, 10-mile or 5K course. All courses begin and end at the same line on Timber Road. Proceeds from the run will benefit the Emily Whitehead Foundation, dedicated to raising awareness and funding less-toxic cures for childhood cancer.

The organization supports families fighting childhood cancer and connects them to clinical trials for CAR T-Cell therapy, the life-saving treatment that Emily Whitehead received 10 years ago during her battle with leukemia.

This years run will also honor the memory of Mike McCauley, an ultramarathoner who ran the Blood, Sweat & Tears event and worked closely with the Emily Whitehead Foundation to raise awareness of pediatric cancer.

ALICE report:Data shows Lebanon residents struggle to avoid 'financial ruin'

Snitz Creek Restoration: North Cornwall Township chair slams watershed association for threats of protest

Emily Whitehead was only 5 years old when she was first diagnosed with cancer. She initially received treatment at Hershey Medical Center. After exhausting all treatment possibilities and relapsing twice, doctors only gave her weeks to live.

Tom and Kari Whitehead, Emilys parents, refused to give up and began researching more unconventional means of treatment.

They discovered that the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia was conducting a clinical trial for CAR T-Cell therapy, a treatment involving the collection of a patients T-Cells, reprogramming them, and infusing them back into the body.

Emily became the first pediatric patient in the world to receive CAR T-Cell therapy. Since then, she has received national media attention, including a full-length documentary titled "Of Medicine and Miracles," which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year.

The attention has allowed for the Whiteheads to help families in similar circumstances in getting in any support they need, including connecting them with clinical trials for the T-Cell Therapy.

T-Cell Therapy is currently only available to patients with certain kinds of cancer, who have run out of treatment options, and often only available through clinical trials. Even with strict accessibility, the treatment has been able to help countless families facing pediatric cancer across the country.

Once such family was the Goras, from Duncannon, whose experience with pediatric cancer mirrored the Whiteheads'.

Every time I watch him, Im just amazed at what the CART team has done for him, Stan Gora said, (They) saved his life, allowed him to grow up and be a boy and do the things we boys did. Every day its a blessing.

Ayden was only 2 years old when he was first diagnosed with leukemia. He spent three years in and out hospitals, spending much of it at Hershey Medical Center. Six months before the end of his treatment, he relapsed.

Thats when the Goras began to explore other treatment options, talking to other parents who had gone through the same thing, and discovered that T-Cell therapy treatments were an option.

It wasnt until his options ran out that we realized like, Oh my gosh, thats us, too,' Stan Gora said. That trial, that type of therapy, is something we might have to rely on, because nothing else is working.

The family visited CHOP to get a second opinion on Aydens condition, which eventually evolved into him participating in the trial. Gora said that while getting things moving on the trial was a bit logistically complex, the process of signing up went smoothly.

Gora said that he spoke with Tom Whitehead for advice on the therapy, on a father-to-father level, because he felt like he was walking into the ordeal blindly.

Because Aydens body had already been put under immense pressure from previous treatments, the doctors warned that recovery after the T-Cells had been re-introduced into his body might be difficult, and once the therapy was done, Ayden had to be placed in the ICU for two weeks.

Our initial response was like, what the hell did we do? Did we do the right thing? Gora said. He was fighting cancer, but now he was maybe still fighting cancer, and now they put him on the ventilator. As a parent, thats kind of scary.

Gora said they experienced a moment of clarity about 30 days after the treatment when Aydens test results came back that the cancer was completely undetectable in his body. They knew that they had made the right choice.

Looking back, Gora clarified that no matter what happened, going through with the treatment was always the right choice, because the alternative was to do nothing.

Ayden begins his first year back to in-school learning since the pandemic and is currently obsessed with hip hop dancing, Gora said.

Hes a little clumsy sometimes, Gora said. Maybe he wouldnt be like that before all this, who knows, but hes growing up.

Registration for the event is available at bloodsweatandtearsfivemiler.weebly.com.

For more information on the course and questions regarding registration, contact Tom Garrett at tgarrett7@msn.com.

More information on the Emily Whitehead Foundation can be found at emilywhiteheadfoundation.org.

Original post:
Blood, Sweat & Tears run returns for its 10th year - Lebanon Daily News