NEW SHARON — A team of four people running the perimeter of the United States to raise money for cancer research stopped in town Tuesday on the 14th day of their trek.
“This year, we journey to run 10,000 miles around the USA counterclockwise … to raise $500,000 in partnership with Huntsman Cancer Institute,” Landon Cooper, founder of Miles 2 Give Inc., said.
Huntsman Cancer Institute has pledged to match up to $120,000, according to Miles 2 Give, a nonprofit organization dedicated to finding a cure for sarcoma.
The cancer most often develops in the body’s connective tissues and afflicts approximately 12,000 Americans each year. In adults, it represents 1 percent of all newly diagnosed cancers. It is more prevalent among young adults and children, accounting for about 15 percent of all pediatric cancers, according to the Miles 2 Give’s website.
Last year, Miles 2 Give runners covered 3,000 miles from San Francisco, Calif., to Ocean City, Md., in 157 days from February to August. They ran for 270 sarcoma victims worldwide.
This year’s run started April 29 at Times Square in New York City and is scheduled to end there by Dec. 15, said Cooper, who lived and trained in Utah.
Running with him are Everett Smith, 53, of Redlands, Calif., tour chef; Naeha Breeland, 29, of Sebastopol, Calif., fundraising/events coordinator; and Mary Flinders, 23, of Salt Lake City, Utah, videographer. The four take turns running and sleep in a 1994 Winnebago decorated with corporate sponsors on the outside and messages and names written on the walls inside.
“For me … a lot of these people have a place in my heart,” Cooper said.
After stops in New Sharon and Farmington, the runners headed to Dixfield for an overnight stop before continuing on to New Hampshire.
Cooper founded Miles 2 Give after a friend died from sarcoma, he said. He turned his grief into funding research to find a cure for the disease, he said. He chose other runners who also have lost loved ones to cancer to join him.
Companies and individuals help sponsor the runs. To join the fundraising effort and/or dedicate a day to a sarcoma “warrior” go to miles2give.org.
People can follow the 2014 run on Facebook at miles2give.org and on Twitter @miles2give.
abryant@sunjournal.com
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- Miles 2 Give founder Landon Cooper sits in the 1994 Winnebago van he and three other runners are using as they run around the perimeter of the continental United States to raise money for cancer research. The four stopped in New Sharon on Tuesday, the 14th day of their eight-month trek.
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- Everett Smith of Redlands, Calif., and Naeha Breeland of Sebastopol, Calif., stand beside Miles 2 Give’s 1994 Winnebago van Tuesday in New Sharon. They and two other team members are raising money for cancer research by running around the perimeter of the continental United States this year.
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- Mary Flinders of Salt Lake City, Utah, runs along Route 2 in New Sharon on Tuesday as part of Miles 2 Give’s campaign to raise $500,000 for cancer research this year. She and three others are running the perimeter of the continental United States.
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- Mary Flinders of Salt Lake City, Utah, runs along Route 2 in New Sharon on Tuesday as part of Miles 2 Give’s campaign to raise $500,000 for cancer research this year. She and three others are running the perimeter of the continental United States.
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