Schools

Friends, Family, Teachers Pledge to Run 26 Miles on Behalf of Russell Student and Cancer Survivor

Members of the Marple Newtown community have signed up to run in the Walt Disney World Marathon next year in honor of 8-year-old cancer survivor Charlotte McAuliffe.

Charlotte McAuliffe seems like any other 8-year-old–she attends school at and loves playing softball. Except she really isn't just ordinary.

Charlotte has survived a great feat that many of us will not come to know or experience in a lifetime. In 2006, Charlotte was diagnosed with Medulloblastoma or brain cancer. She was only 3.

After a week of complaining that her back hurt, her mother, Sherry-Lee McAuliffe, took Charlotte to the emergency room, who were then referred to an orthopedist for an MRI. They discovered a tumor on her cerebellum and four others on her spinal cord.

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Charlotte relapsed two years later when she was 5 and had been on rigorous treament. Although she has officially been off treatment for a few years now, the side effects from that time has brought on a lot of delayed effects, including high-frequency loss in both ears, cognitive and short-term memory loss as well as damage in her bones from steroids.

"Since the age of 3, this is really what she's known," said McAuliffe. "She's still processing a lot of what happened to her. Even now, she doesn't process how serious it all was."

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Perhaps all the hospital visits, surgeries and treatments just became a part of Charlotte's life that was unique from others. So when Charlotte came home from school one day, and told her mom that she watched a health video where a boy had two have two surgeries and couldn't believe it, McAuliffe was the one who was in shock.

"She's had 17 surgeries," said McAuliffe. "But I think she always looks at everyone else's harder road. In her 8-year-old world, this is what she knows and I think she's still trying to understand all of it."

The McAuliffes have been avid supporters of various organizations such as the National Brain Tumor Society, American Cancer Society but the one that is most dear to their hearts is Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for childhood cancer. In fact, the McAuliffes are an ambassador family and Charlotte has been recognized by the foundation as one of their heroes.

Although the family has raised money for Alex's Lemonade in the past, this is the first time McAuliffe has pledged to run a marathon on her daughter's behalf. The idea spurred after her sister-in-law and friends ran the Chicago marathon in honor of Charlotte, which they donated all their raised funds to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and wanted the next opportunity to be the Walt Disney World Marathon in January 2012. This will be McAuliffe's first running race.

"I do other things for exercise–I don't enjoy running at all," chuckled McAuliffe about the daunting 26.2-mile race ahead of her. "I've started training though and It's for a good cause. I also felt, here are all these people  running in honor of my daughter, there should be one of us at least doing this."

Word spread about the Disney World Marathon in honor of Charlotte throughout the Marple Newtown community, and now there is a total of nine team members who will join to support childhood cancer, including Principal Dr. Ray McFall and his wife Joanne and Assistant Principal and Athletic Director at the high school Dennis Reardon and his wife Kim, a kindergarten teacher at Russell.

When his wife Kim brought up the idea of participating in the Disney marathon, Reardon admitted he wasn't sure of how to respond.

"The thought of running a marathon is overwhelming," said Reardon. "If I say 'no,' I'd be a failure because I wasn't even trying. If I do it and I couldn't finish it, I'd still be a failure. But I sat down and thought about it and said, 'how could I not?' To see how these little kids struggle–how could I not do this."

The marathon will be a weekend-long event, where a family-friendly race will also take place. Charlotte and a few other children will also participate in this event while a few others will participate in the half marathon.

"It's unbelievable to have people run on my daughter's behalf," said McAuliffe. "You can't really put it into words the support we have received from the school community from the very beginning. We have truly been blessed. Everyone has been amazingly supportive. It's incredible."

If you can't join the team down in Florida next year, you can still support Charlotte and the team by donating online at Charlotte's Lemonheads page. The team is looking to raise $2,000 by the end of the year. They have currently raised $210. For more information and updates on Charlotte's condition, read her site here.


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