Tar Heels lace up their running shoes to support pediatric cancer patients
The Carolina Pediatric Attention Love and Support student group is hosting its inaugural Golden Heroes 5K virtually on Sept. 26 to raise money for the organization’s scholarship program and promote awareness of pediatric cancer.
Tar Heels from the Carolina Pediatric Attention Love and Support student organization are at nearly every step of the way for young patients undergoing cancer care at UNC Hospitals. They may attend doctor’s appointments, play games during treatment or provide general support.
Even with the members now spread throughout the country and away from the pediatric hematology-oncology clinic because of COVID-19, the UNC-Chapel Hill students are virtually coming together this weekend to support the patients and their families.
CPALS is hosting its inaugural Golden Heroes 5K on Sept. 26 to raise money for the organization’s scholarship program, promote awareness of pediatric cancer and connect with the community patients, doctors and supporters from afar.
“Our patients and their families, they’re even more isolated and quarantined right now for safety reasons,” said Jordan Mahoney, president of the student organization. “We wanted to show them that CPALS still cares. Even if we can’t physically be there with them, we’re sending them all of the CPALS love.”
Registered participants will run 3.1 miles at home and then share their times with the more than 70 other competitors through a Google Form. This will allow people from across the country to participate. To create a race day feel for the virtual event, student organizers have created number bibs for participants and are encouraging runners to share photos and videos on social media.
“We wanted to make it not only a campus event but a community event because so many of our patients at UNC Hospitals come from the community, so we wanted to include their caregivers, the doctors, the nurses and the patients themselves to bring us all together,” said Carolina junior Mary Virginia Glennon, who organized the event alongside fellow CPALS co-fundraising chair Tanvi Saran.
Money raised through the run will go toward CPALS’ scholarship fund, which provides financial assistance for former pediatric hematology-oncology clinic patients attending college.
The scholarship is just one way that CPALS works to support the patients and families of UNC Hospitals. As registered volunteers at the hospital, students take one-on-one roles with the young patients and find ways to entertain them throughout the treatment process. Students also decorate the clinic, organize retreats, plan support groups and create craft kits.
“Our overall goal is to make the hospital experience more fun for the kids,” said Mahoney, a senior studying human development and family studies.
Though many of those programs are temporarily on hold during the pandemic, students like Mahoney are still working to stay connected with the patients from home.
“Right now, with COVID, because we aren’t allowed in the hospital, we do those [talks] virtually,” she said. “I’ll FaceTime my pal, text the caregiver, and we just provide that friendship and support through their treatment journey and beyond.”
Saturday’s Golden Heroes 5K will be just another way for Mahoney and the rest of CPALS to show their support for the cancer patients while also ensuring that its critical programming continues.
“With the 5K, we’ve been talking about it and planning for it before COVID even was a thing, and so it was an easy adaptation,” Mahoney said. “This is really helping in being able to ensure that we’re able to provide the same amount of scholarships that we have in previous semesters.”
