When Barb Hoffman and Sue Waymire of Oxford, and friend Pam Allen of Lake Orion, recently traveled to Anchorage, Alaska, they went there with a mission.
The women had trained for nearly six months in order to walk in a 26.2-mile marathon, sponsored by The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, on June 21st. Hoffman and Waymire, along with Hoffman’s sister, walked a half marathon, 13.1 miles, while Allen went on to complete the entire course.
“We all work together for Lake Orion Schools,” said Hoffman, “We’ve worked together in the special education department for 25 years.”
The friends decided they would do the race in January of this year, after Hoffman was diagnosed with lymphoma in November of 2002.
“At this point there’s no cure for her type, but there’s experimental drugs they are having a lot of success with,” said Waymire. “Her future depends on these drugs and the research…a majority of the money goes to research and patient-assistance.”
Each of the group had to raise $4,500 to take part in the marathon, and ended up collectively raising over $20,000.
“We had a garage sale and we had a lot of support from family and friends,” said Hoffman, who first learned about the marathon from a mailing. “We decided since we were doing it together, we would try to raise the money.”
The group was able to get several corporate sponsorships to help fund the effort, and they plan to hold a second garage sale in September to help raise more funds.
“We started fundraising in February and we’re still doing it,” said Waymire.
“We probably reached our goal in April,” Allen said.
“Everything else goes right into research,” Waymire said. “We all work in the school system, so we had a ready-made audience (for donations).”
“We had a gourmet dinner, wine tasting, we even sold pretzels,” Hoffman said. “We want to thank everyone who contributed for making this possible.”
The women began training for the marathon in January, training five days a week.
“We had lots of rain so we were prepared for Alaska,” said Allen. The group was in Alaska during the time when there is light 24 hours a day.
“It was the longest day of the year,” said Waymire. “I broke my foot on the last two miles…I fractured a bone. I finished…but I couldn’t have gone anymore.”
Marathon participants walk in the name of a patient, and Waymire, Allen and Hoffman walked in Hoffman’s name, as well as Jeremy Leach, the son of a Lake Orion teacher who was diagnosed with leukemia. The group also walked in the name of another patient whose name they could not disclose.
“There were others we kept in our minds too, as we walked,” said Allen.
After the marathon, Allen and Hoffman stayed on for an additional two weeks to tour Alaska.
“It was breathtaking,” Allen said.
Hoffman said it was the group’s first marathon, but they are considering doing a bicycle race next time.
“We want to keep raising money,” she said. “I went to a cancer hospital in Texas called MD Anderson, they are lymphoma specialists. People are there for months at a time, and (The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society) offers financial support. It’s a real burden on the family.”
“As we were out collecting money, a lot of people would tell your their story,” said Waymire. “(The society) raised $5 million from the marathon in Alaska alone, and they do tons of marathons.”
For now, Hoffman said her prognosis is “watch and wait.”
“It’s a real slow growing (condition),” she said. “I’ll need chemotherapy eventually, but it could be years from now.”
“They have to wait for the symptoms to become more severe,” said Waymire.
Hoffman said she recently learned about a group called the Corporate Angel Network, who fly cancer