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Marine Corps Marathon 10k Teams:
Click the team member's name for bio, photo, and goal progress.
To Donate for Your Team Member:
Donate online using our secure server and any major credit card. When completing the form select the team member's name for proper credit.
Click here for online donation form.
To donate via US Mail:
Make checks payable to MarineParents.com, Inc. Put your team member's name in the memo field for proper credit.
Mail checks to:
MarineParents.com, Inc.
c/o Team Marine Parents
PO Box 1115
Columbia, MO 65205
MarineParents.com, Inc. is an IRS approved 501(c)(3) public charity. For tax deductable information, please visit the "Donate Online" link above.
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I was born in California, living in Oklahoma, Florida and Alaska, before finally settling down in Springfield, Missouri. I work as a high school secretary and love working with kids. My husband passed away in 2006 and I have adjusted well to my new life as a single woman. I am the proud mother of two fine young men: Steven, who lives in New Mexico and Joe, my Marine.
Joe joined the Marine Corps as a reservist, leaving for boot camp just 3 days after his high school graduation in 2004. He volunteered to go to Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and was deployed to Iraq in 2006. After just one week in Iraq, he began feeling strange, and was soon hospitalized, slipping into total paralysis and coma on October 1, 2006. Joe was sent from the hospital in Iraq, to a hospital in Germany, then Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland. The Marine Corps sent Steven and me to Germany, then to Bethesda, where I remained at Joe's bedside for six weeks. We chose a fairly new and controversial treatment for him, it worked well, and he began a slow recovery. Joe was placed in the Operation PAL program while we were at Bethesda.
Joe and I watched TV news reports of the 2006 Marine Corps Marathon from his hospital room, and he began to dream of running the marathon one day. At that time, he had no feeling below his lowest rib, but he caught the dream anyway. That weekend, we were visited by three Marine Parents members (including Tracy Della Vecchia) and they told us about Neil. Neil had been in the same bed one year earlier and he was running in the marathon that weekend! After hearing that story, Joe was more determined than ever to make his dream come true. Each time he reached another milestone in his recovery, he felt closer to fulfilling his dream. Joe was still in a wheelchair when we attended the Marine Parents Conference in St. Louis in April of 2007. Joe actually met Neil at the conference and soon talk turned to the MCM and the idea of Joe racing in a wheelchair or hand cycle was born. Roy and Georgette, from The Heart of a Marine Foundation, took up the challenge of supplying Joe with a special made hand cycle, and by the end of the conference, I could see that the dream was coming true.
I caught the fever and decided to race too. I signed up for the MCM10K and, when Joe went out to train on the hand cycle, I would also train. For a middle aged woman who had always lead a sedentary lifestyle, it was quite a change; but I finally worked up to the 6.2 miles and became excited about the race. Steven met us in Washington and was our photographer, jumping on and off the metro to catch Joe at several spots. While I wasn't the fastest person in the race, I finished the 10K, a major accomplishment for me!
Since the 2007 10K, I have done more training and, more importantly, taken off about 20 pounds; which should make it easier this year. Joe is looking forward to riding his hand cycle in the MCM again, and we are both excited about the races. Donations in my name will go to Purple Heart Family Support, which provides meals to the patients, their families, and Marines in the Wounded Warrior program at Bethesda. During Joe's hospitalization there, I learned quickly that while there is a nice cafeteria and several fast food restaurants in the hospital, they are all closed on weekends and holidays, greatly limiting the food choices on base. The families could leave the base, but most do not, wanting to remain at their patient's bedside every waking moment. For them, these meals are a gift from God! The meals are also a wonderful gift to the injured Marines and sailors who are going through the medical board process in the Wounded Warrior program, living in the barracks across the street from the hospital. I send out a big thank you and "ooh-rah" to all who give to our young heroes.
| Goal $200 Raised thus far: $710 |
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