Friday, May 29, 2009
Race for the heart
A 5K race honors a young runner and raises awareness of cardiac arrest.
SAM DEAN The Roanoke Times
Run with Grace will be held June 6 at Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke. The event includes a 5K and a one-mile fun run.
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Many will remember Grace Lovegrove for her appetite for Hardee's Thickburgers, Cheerwine soda and marine biology.
"She always found something good in everything," said her father, Richard Lovegrove.
Grace loved running with her track team most of all.
She quickly became the ultimate team player and led the Patrick Henry High School team's practices and meets as their captain during her senior year.
Her parents couldn't have been prouder of their daughter when she began her freshman year at Christopher Newport University. She chose marine biology as her major, thanks to her high school teacher, Ed McMichael. And of course Grace joined the track team.
Then, while training for a race after Christmas break, Grace collapsed. She had had a sudden cardiac arrest and died two days later, Jan. 12, 2005, at age 18.
Richard Lovegrove recounted stories of his daughter. Grace lent her own running shoes to teammates during meets. She bought lunch and dinner for friends who couldn't afford to pay. He also remembered the organ donor sticker Grace kept stuck on her bedroom door for years, a clear statement of her giving spirit.
A little more than a year after Grace died, her friends and family decided it was time to take action. The goal was to raise money to support her high school track team and help a student pay for college. And because Grace loved to run, plans were made for a 5K and one-mile fun run in May 2006, the first Run with Grace.
Cindy Mohr was involved in this event from the beginning. She said her son, Will Mohr, joined the Patrick Henry track team his freshman year, when Grace was a senior.
"Grace was not valedictorian of her high school or destined to win an Olympic medal," she said. "She was just a good and loving person from a good and loving family."
Since then, Run with Grace has transformed from a memorial/athletic fundraiser to a chance to also raise awareness about sudden cardiac arrest, organ donation and automated external defibrillators.
Richard Lovegrove said that Grace's kidneys, pancreas and liver went to four Virginians, thanks to the organ donation program she so strongly believed in. He still wonders if Grace's outcome would have been different if there had been an AED nearby when she collapsed.
The run moved from May to the first Saturday in June in 2007 to coincide with National CPR and AED Awareness Week.
Carilion Clinic has sponsored Run with Grace in past years. They also will send staff this year to give CPR and AED demonstrations.
"We wanted to raise awareness of sudden cardiac arrest and have AED's in area schools," Lovegrove explained.
Since Grace's death, AEDs have become more prominent in most Roanoke Valley high schools. Carilion has provided an AED to each high school located near each of its hospitals.
Lovegrove doesn't believe that Grace has been the direct reason for this, but he is hopeful that the annual event has helped.
Although the Run with Grace has shifted its focus, it will always serve Grace's friends and family as a memorial. Mohr's son graduated two years ago, but she still volunteers her time because of Grace and the influence she had on Mohr's family.
"If you want to see love in action, just be there June 6th," she said.
