By Kaitlin Candelaria
Five Birmingham runners are taking Camp Smile-a-Mile’s mission to New York City.
Savannah Lanier, development director for Camp SAM, said this won’t be the first time the organization has been represented in the TCS New York City Marathon, but this year’s team is different.
“We’ve had a marathon team in the past, but it wasn’t really a group that was close together,” Lanier said. “Last year, I got the idea for Camp SAM’s 30th anniversary to put together a team of people who loved the camp and who had a very personal tie to the organization to take the mission to New York City.”
Lanier reached out to fellow Mountain Brook resident Richard Brown, Homewood residents Alison Henninger and Britney Cowart, and Birmingham-based supporter Adam Quarles.
Each member of the team has a very different connection to Camp SAM.
Quarles was diagnosed with cancer in 1984, at two years old. He attended the first camp session in 1985 and has been an active volunteer with the organization ever since.
Brown began volunteering with the organization in 1991.
“I graduated from college and really didn’t have a lot of direction,” Brown said. “I got the opportunity to volunteer (with Camp SAM) and it totally molded my career path.” Brown went on to become a certified registered nurse practitioner and now also serves as the medical director for Camp SAM.
Camp SAM also inspired Henninger to become a nurse after she began volunteering there in high school. She and Brown both work at Children’s of Alabama on the hematology/oncology unit.
Cowart said she began volunteering with Camp SAM while attending school in Auburn. However, it wasn’t until her running buddy, Henninger, began talking up the organization and all the wonderful things it did for children with cancer that Cowart took on a deeper commitment to the camp.
The group applied for a TCS New York City Marathon team early in the year and received their approval in February. Now, they’re training three to five days a week to complete the 26-mile race on Nov. 1. They will join more than 20,000 other people who are also participating.
“We’re all so busy with different schedules and our children and family, so sometimes it can be hard to coordinate our training for all five of us to run together, but one good thing about training as a group is that it keeps us accountable,” Brown said. “Even when we were at camp this summer, we would wake up and run together.”
The group registered as a charity team, so they are also charged with fundraising. Some members have birthdays coming up for which they plan to ask for donations in lieu of gifts.
“It’s been pretty moving,” Quarles said. “One of my golf buddies recently did a crab boil for me and as a result of that, we raised over $1,000 towards my total. It’s been really amazing to see people step up like that and get behind me. People are excited about what we’re doing even if their only connection to camp is me.”
Henninger agrees that the support has been amazing.
“It’s a story you can’t unhear,” she said. “You can’t help but to want to be a part of it and help.”
Camp SAM is dedicated to providing year-round challenging, unforgettable recreational and educational experiences for young cancer patients, their families and young adult survivors in Alabama at no cost. Its signature program is seven camp sessions hosted throughout the summer for childhood cancer patients in different stages of treatment.
“To do 26 miles, you have to have an inspiration,” Henninger said. “When we want to quit, we think of the children.”
During the marathon, the team will dedicate each mile to a childhood cancer patient who has touched their lives. The last mile will be run in memory of all the children lost to childhood cancer.
“I always think about a patient or a family or coworkers or someone that I want to run in honor of each day we train,” Brown said. “When I’m cramping, sore or overheated or don’t want to run, I remember that everything I’m putting myself through, I can control. The kids and their families cannot.”
The team members all agree that it isn’t hard to stay motivated when running for such a worthy cause.
“When we’re running, we have these healthy bodies that we’re able to use for a good cause and I’ve learned not to take that for granted,” Cowart said. “There’s people who can’t do that. For them, every day is a struggle.”
Quarles said, for him, he realizes that everything is temporary.
“I always fall back on realizing any pain or discomfort is temporary,” he said. “I’ve always had that outlook on life and I see this as a great example of that.”
