PEORIA, Ill. – Around 150 St. Jude runners and their support teams will take off from Peoria Tuesday morning, bound for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.
The run, now in its 42nd year, raises money each year for kids with cancer at St. Jude.
Co-founder of the Memphis to Peoria Run Mike McCoy tells WMBD’s “The Greg and Dan Show”, when they got started in 1982, the chance of survival for kids with cancer was about 8-percent. Now, the average is about 80-percent.
“Certain forms of cancer, like the most prominent ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukemia), 94-percent are now surviving. So, one of the things that keeps me going is…it’s working,” McCoy says.
On Tuesday, over 150 Memphis to Peoria runners, including WMBD’s own Caleb Kelch, will load up into about 20 RVs, headed for St. Jude Children’s Hospital where they will begin running back to Peoria Wednesday morning.
Caleb, who is running for a 6th year for the kids at St. Jude, shares his motivation for taking part every year with WMBD’s “Greg and Dan Show”.
“One reason is like…why not? It’s always kind of been in the back of my head, I’d like to do something that’s really important to me. Then also my dad’s side of the family as well…he had a niece and a nephew that both had cancer as teenagers, and one in particular was a St. Jude patient. Both of them did pass, so that’s just another motivation, Kelch says.
The Memphis to Peoria runners will meet up with thousands of other St. Jude runners, taking part this week in satellite runs across the Midwest, Saturday afternoon outside the Peoria Civic Center…where the St. Jude Telethon will be held on our news partner 25 News.
To learn how you can give to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and its biggest affiliate in Peoria, click HERE.
