Upload / Capture
About the charity: Mission Statement
Snowdrop Foundation provides scholarships for college bound pediatric cancer patients and childhood cancer survivors while raising awareness and funding for continued research to cure childhood cancer.
Snowdrop Foundation donations are designated for four specific areas:
Snowdrop Scholarship Program
Scholarships to qualified, college bound, Board of Director approved pediatric cancer patients.
Teen Program
The Teen Program is a support program for teenage patients within the Cancer Center. The teen support group plans activities for teenagers, ‘Chelsey’ Easter Egg Hunt, Snowdrop Toy Drops, Bling for Bravery, Fun activities.
Awareness
Hosting events to raise awareness of childhood cancer.
How it got started: Snowdrop Foundation was created from the inspiration of Chelsey Coy Campbell this foundation was Chelsey 16th Birthday Gift
Chelsey’s Story-
Chelsey was a fifteen, a high school sophomore and homecoming co princess in September, 2005. In October all of that changed.
In October 2005, she was diagnosed with advanced, stage four undifferentiated sarcoma, a rare cancer of the soft tissues that only affects fifty people worldwide, annually. Statistically, only one person in ten survives this type of cancer.
Chelsey, upon receiving her diagnosis, told her doctor that she “would be that one person in ten.”
In February after three months of chemotherapy treatment, Chelsey had record setting 27 hour marathon surgery at Texas Children’s Cancer Center. Ninety five percent of her tumors were removed. Only two remained in her body post surgery after four weeks of Radiation, only one remained. Continued radiation treatments did not eliminate the last tumor.
Scans show that her previous tumors had returned and there was an emergence of new tumors. Nothing more could be done.
Chelsey received her Angel’s Wings on December 9, 2006
in 2008 I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. I had an orchiectomy of the left testicle. Followed by 20 treatments of radiation in my midsection. I am blessed to not had to go through chemo and have been cancer free since. When I heard about this charity run, it motivated me on several levels. One, because I tend to have a soft spot for cancer charities for obvious reasons. Two, because it is focused on children who are fighting their own battles against cancer. and Three, because they chose something I have become passionate about in my later years as a vehicle of hope, running.
Below is a donation page, this is a great charity, if you feel inclined to donate............just know it is going to a very good cause.
Over the last 4 months, my life has taken some twists and turns. I was laid off in September. By the end of October I had started a new company. With that change, my training routines were taking some hits and alterations.
Then in November, I had a 100K run ( https://www.weeviews.com/reviews/4238/big-texas-ultra-5th-of-5-in-texas-series ) that I ended up with a severely rolled and swollen ankle.
So, I wasn't exactly on my game going into the endurance event. I had 3 things I was holding onto going in that made me feel comfortable about the event having potential to be successful.
1. It was not a speed event for me. I had 55 hours to go after my 100 mile goal.
2. I had already ran over 2000 miles on the year and feel I had a very good fitness base for long, low effort miles
3. Its a .69 course run in loops with lots of support, flat course and lots of opportunity to re-energize.
The run only has 1 check in time, which happens the day before the start of the run. It would be nice to have at least 1 alternate time to do packet pick up, maybe at a local running store, but it is not uncommon to have a 1 time packet pick up.
With that said, the pick up process was a breeze and well staffed. They gave out a very nice gym bag and had some extra goodies to pick from.
I had 4 shoes available: Nike Vomero Plus, Topo Atmos 2, Tarkine AutoPilot and Salomon Aero Glide 3.
Leggings: adidas Men's Core Own the Run Tight Black
Shorts over leggings: adidas Men's Own The Run 7” Shorts
Hand held: Nathan SpeedDraw Plus Insulated Flask Hydration: LMNT in addition to on course offering
Various layers from Craft
Socks from Darn Tough and Craft
Brooks gloves
Craft beanie
The course is a .69ish loop. In order to hit 100 miles, you do 145 loops. At the start/finish line they had a "warming tent" with coffee and other items available continually. A different tent set up for hot food that was being delivered by different sponsors. A hydration tent. A snack tent. And then a full port a pot area that was well maintained and lit for the 55 hours.
For a trail runner, I felt a bit spoiled with this set up. I ran straight through with no sleep, which put me running through the night. There was hot pizza brought in around midnight. Then around 2AM when I was feeling low, the volunteer at hydration tent yelled out "Hey, bacon and pancakes are going to be ready soon". I literally felt rejuvenated after she said that and yes, I went and got pancakes and bacon when they were ready.
They did an absolutely brilliant job with runner support. In addition to the above, they had medical people on site in their own tent for any first aid needs or massaging that needed to be done.
The course was an easy course to stay on. It was either concrete surface or limestone/loose gravel surfaces. The course had signs of those currently battling cancer who have fought and gained their wings. About a third of the course is called "tent city", where runners have their camps set up and you run through them.
The tent area was fun as you had a lot of people cheering on the runners. I got to run through that area 145 times and there was always someone cheering me on.
This was my first ever attempt at 100 miles and I achieved that goal in 28 hours, 44 minutes and 16 seconds.
The first 40 miles: I chose the Nike Vomero Plus out of the gate for the run. The shoe is great, look for my review to be posted soon (if not already). However, by the time I got to mile 40, both of my knees, ankles and lower back were in bad shape. I think the higher stack with a bit of instability were not a good mix for the usage.
So at 40 miles I did a full gear change. I put on new socks (Craft) and the Topo Atmos 2 (Review here: https://www.weeviews.com/reviews/4259/topo-atmos-2 and follow up Youtube notes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AG5YKUUx-Q ) Along with a couple Ibuprofen, the Topo's stabilized my back, ankles and knees. My left knee continued to hurt, so I also added compression knee wraps to help support. The shoes did so well, I did the full remaining 60 miles in them. They are a brilliant shoe.
I wasn't sure how I would actually go about getting the 100 miles since I could technically sleep and have enough time to achieve the goal. I decided to try and see if I could just go get it, I did not sleep. When I do the math from the time I woke up on race day to the time I took a nap, I was awake for 33 hours. I am not as young as I used to be and took a bit to recover from that, but it was a great experience to do..........once lol. I want to do this again, but will take some rest/sleep sleep breaks next time.
The buckle is amazing. The experience was amazing. The support and organization is amazing. I never thought I would run a marathon, this was 100 miles. If you ever want to get an endurance event a try or want to try for 100 Miles, this is a great event to try it at. Oh and by the way, you don't have to stop at 100 miles. You can run the entire time if you want to. The high mile mark is a runner very well known to this event, Juan Acevedo with 200 miles.
Again, a kind reminder that this run has the end goal to raise funds for Cancer research and scholarships for children fighting cancer. If you feel compelled, please donate. Link below
Login to your account to leave a comment.
We Want to Give it to You!
