Kathy Whiteside
She’s raising money on her feet
Kathy Whiteside was always a runner. She thought about running a marathon, but the years seemed to slip by without it happening. She was 40, then she was 41.
“I thought, ‘OK, I’m going to do this,’” Whiteside said.
“I had a neighbor who had died earlier that year, a young person, 36 years old with three children.”
His death served as a catalyst for Whiteside to begin training with the “Team in Training,” program of the Leukemia/ Lymphoma Society. Each member of the team solicits pledges to raise money for the society.
Some run in honor of a particular patient, but all are charged with raising a substantial amount. In return, the team is given advice and support while training to run 26-plus miles.
The running was therapeutic in part for Whiteside. Unlike other volunteers, she could be training and think about a patient that her pediatric bone-marrow transplant unit may have lost recently.
Whiteside ran in Des Moines Marathon and “raised a good amount of money” and had a good time doing it despite some unseasonable fall heat that caused cramping.
“You do think about that. You’re going along and you’re like, ‘OK, I’m cramping, but I can do this; I’m going to do this,’” she said. “I’ve seen these kids go through way worse things than leg cramping.
“I’ve even had times when I’m like, ‘OK, push me along,’ like an angel.”
After running the marathon, she was determined to become more involved and became a board member of the Leukemia/Lymphoma Society and has served four years. It is an affiliation that augments her job.
She has become involved in all the society’s events including serving on the committee for the man, woman and celebrity of the year event and the “Light the Night” event.
“I basically spend a lot of time talking to people who are thinking about running a campaign and basically giving them the story that I see every day with kids who are battling cancer and families who are facing cancer,” she said. “I know that I am helping even outside of my job to try to educate community members, too.”
She retains the singlet she wore during her first marathon. On it are names of kids she took care of at that time, some of whom are cancer survivors and some who have died.
“I keep it in a special place,” Whiteside said.
In her heart.
— Susan Harman
