If you trace it back far enough, Amie Wilcox says the inspiration came from her parents.

“They’ve always raised me to believe that where there’s a will, there’s a way,” Wilcox said. “That’s kind of pushed me through this whole thing.”

Wilcox, a teacher at Waterville Junior High School and the field hockey coach at the high school, will be running in a half-marathon Nov. 20 in St. Petersburg, Fla. to raise money for cancer research.

“I told myself I would never run a half-marathon,” Wilcox said. “I didn’t see the point in it. I told myself, if I could do it for a great cause, then yeah, why not do it?”

Wilcox can tell you cancer statistics — how an estimated 957,902 people either live with or are in remission from a leukemia-based cancer and how every 10 minutes someone dies from a blood cancer. She found out more after cancer kept attacking people she knew.

“Recently, I knew someone who passed away to leukemia, and that was devastating,” Wilcox said. “She got married. She had kids. She’s my age.

“Her death just kind of topped it off. It was just a rough summer. It started with someone passing away to cancer and then ended with someone passing away to cancer — both young people.”

During this time Wilcox cried a lot and prayed a lot, but mostly she just felt helpless.

“The feeling that’s so frustrating is you feel like you can’t do anything,” Wilcox said. “It seems like it’s almost nonstop,” Wilcox said. “You’re always hearing about someone who got cancer, or how they’re in remission and they got it again, or they lost their battle to it.”

So Wilcox, who likes to run anyway, decided to help by raising money for research. She hooked up with Team In Training, a program that has raised over $1 billion for cancer research through the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

With Team In Training, a person runs or competes in another athletic event and raises money over a period of months. Wilcox got a late start, so she is a little over halfway to her goal of $3,800.

“Every second that I get, that’s what I’m doing,” Wilcox said of the fundraising. “I’m not nearly as nervous about running the half-marathon as I am about flying down there. I hate to fly, and I hate to fly alone.”

As part of Team In Training, you also run in someone’s honor. Wilcox is running in honor of Wayne Champeon, a member of the Maine Sports Hall of Fame. Champeon, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer, is the father of Judy Forrest, who also teaches at Waterville Junior High.

Like Wilcox, Champeon played sports at the University of Maine (Champeon was an all-Yankee Conference selection in football and basketball, and Wilcox played field hockey) and later became a  teacher.

“It was an honor to meet him, and it was an emotional moment,” Wilcox said.

Wilcox has other fundraisers planned, including a spaghetti supper Oct. 23 at Cacciatores in Waterville and a frisbee golf tournament Oct. 30 at Quaker Hill in Fairfield. Anyone wanting more information or wishing to contribute can contact Wilcox at awilcox@aos92.org.

Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
mdifilippo@centralmaine.com

Copy the Story Link