Undersheriff runs a 5K per day to raise money for kids with cancer
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ROCHESTER, N.Y. – September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and the undersheriff of Monroe County is running a 5K every day to raise money to support local kids with cancer and their families.
It’s a mission that’s very personal to him.
Ten-year old Delaney Doyle works with Undersheriff Korey Brown to raise money because it’s personal to her, too.
“I’m in fifth grade and I go to Midlakes Elementary School in Phelps-Clifton Springs,” she tells New10NBC proudly.
While Delaney is full of energy and spunk now, she has been through a lot in her young life.
“It started when I was 15 days old and we went into the doctor’s office and they weren’t sure what was going on and then they told my mom and my dad that I had something called neuroblastoma,” she explains.
Undersheriff Korey Brown runs with Delaney Doyle, 10, who survived childhood cancer. Brown , whose grandson survived cancer, is running a 5K every day through September to raise help families affected by childhood cancer. (Photo: Dan Mauer/WHEC)
For years, there were surgeries, medications, and long hospital stays. And in her fight against childhood cancer, Delaney lost her spleen and part of her hearing.
“So, if I get a fever over 101.1, then I have to go to the emergency room and otherwise I just go for the checkups,” she says.
But that doesn’t stop her mom from worrying.
“She’s, like, really scared because she doesn’t know what’s going to happen in the future,” Delaney says.
It’s a fear that Brown faces, too.
“Four years ago, my grandson was diagnosed with childhood cancer. He had neuroblastoma and as a result of that treatment, the following year, he got leukemia,” he tells News10NBC.
Brown’s grandson is now doing well, just like Delaney, but the experience of what these families went through has driven them to try and do more to help other families who are just starting the fight.
“You don’t think about childhood cancer until that’s all you think about,” Brown says. “Especially for those who’ve lost children, whenever I see that ‘forever 6’ or ‘forever 18,’ it’s just heartbreaking because, you know…,” he says, his voice trailing. “So it’s just nice to remember them.”
The way the undersheriff does that is by running a 5k every day of September.
Each day, he recognizes a different child in our area that has been diagnosed in hopes of raising awareness and money for C.U.R.E. Childhood Cancer Association.
“It shines a light and puts a face to childhood cancer and lets our community know that there are real kids in our community being diagnosed with cancer regularly,” says Holly Dutcher, the executive director of C.U.R.E..
C.U.R.E was established locally in 1976 when a group of Rochester-area parents, who had lost children to cancer, began to meet regularly to talk about their grief, remember their children’s courage, and begin to heal. It morphed into a nonprofit that now focuses on addressing the social, emotional, financial, and educational needs of families whose children have been diagnosed with cancer or chronic blood disorders.
“It’s helping local people, so you could be helping the person behind you at Wegmans, you could be helping your neighbor across the street, you don’t really know, but it all stays local,” Dutcher says.
If you would like to donate to C.U.R.E, click here for more information