SCHAUMBURG, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--“There were days of great pain. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t talk. And there were days I thought I could never do physical activity again,” remembers Rhonda Kokot, board member for The Gateway for Cancer ResearchSM, www.demandcurestoday.org.
“When I started to recover, I would go out for a walk and be out of breath after a half mile, but I made the effort,” she said.
Today, Kokot is regularly running half marathons (13.1 miles) and enjoying her life as owner of a creative agency and aunt to six nieces and nephews who weren’t born when she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). She celebrates her 10th year as a cancer survivor in 2012.
Kokot has been giving back for years, and runs to support research because she benefitted from a clinical trial herself. Most recently, Kokot was instrumental in the creation of The Gateway for Cancer Research’s Team Demand, a new charity running program that encourages fundraising to support cancer research through everything from formal races like the Chicago Half Marathon to fun, informal runs in neighborhoods across the country. Even swimming and biking challenges and mountain climbs can work, she said.
The Gateway funds research into promising new treatment options that can help today’s cancer patients feel better, live longer and be cured now. “Team Demand was created as an enjoyable way for people who want to make a difference in the fight against cancer, to get involved and come together to support each other as they support our mission to save lives,” says Lynette Bisconti, Gateway’s president.
Most any sort of challenge can help raise money for The Gateway, which uses 99 cents of every dollar it receives to fund innovative cancer research.
The first race for Team Demand, which included about 40 runners, was the Chicago Half Marathon last fall. It raised $9,000 for The Gateway. Team Demand will once again be involved in this year’s Chicago Half Marathon in September and plans to have a much larger presence. “We hope that the thousands of people touched by cancer, will join our team and really get behind this effort. Knowing that you are doing your part to help make it possible for more cancer patients to be survivors, is a really meaningful and important way to give back,” says Bisconti. Team Demand runners can also create personal fundraising pages on The Gateway web site to meet their personal fundraising goals.
The Gateway also has partnered with races in other states, including the inaugural Hollywood Half Marathon in Los Angeles, the Georgia Publix Marathon in Atlanta, the Mudathlon in Valparaiso, Indiana and Wisconsin’s “The Cheesiest Marathon.”
“It’s not just money being raised, but also a level of awareness that being active is a great way to stay in the game of life,” says Kokot, who needed a bone marrow transplant to survive. To celebrate her decade-long victory over leukemia, Kokot is pushing herself to raise $10,000 this year for The Gateway, an effort she calls the “10-10-10 Challenge” – 10 years as a cancer survivor, $10,000 for cancer research and 10 races in one year.
She’ll be running five community races and five half marathons, the latter being part of her goal to run half marathons in all 50 states. She’s up to 18 and counting, including Hawaii and Alaska. Visit her Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/DemandCuresChallenge and support her efforts at http://demand.convio.net/Challenge.
“We’re so pleased to have Rhonda on The Gateway board,” says Bisconti. “She’s enthusiastic and so pleased to give back to the cancer survivor community. Her energy is contagious. What she’s accomplished herself is a great example for everyone.”
To learn more about Team Demand and to support runners by donating on their fundraising pages, please visit www.demandcurestoday.org/teamdemand.
To start your own fund-raising event, please visit www.demandcurestoday.org/get-involved/tool-kit.
ABOUT THE GATEWAY FOR CANCER RESEARCH
The Gateway for Cancer ResearchSM is a non-profit organization committed to funding innovative research and bold new ideas for lifesaving treatments. We’re demanding cures to improve and save the lives of today’s patients, now. Our mission is to speed clinical breakthroughs to the bedside to help cancer patients live longer, feel better and be cured today. Since our founding in 1991, The Gateway has funded $19 million in leading-edge research, including blending the best of conventional and complementary/alternative therapies. Follow us on Twitter@Gatewaycr and become a fan at facebook.com/GatewayCancerResearch.