Patients Overcame Great Odds to Take Part in Loyola 5K Run/Walk

WHAT:  Many of the patients who spent the first few months of their life in Loyola University Medical Center’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) will return on Sunday, June 10, to give back to the organization that cared for them. They will participate in the inaugural Ronald McDonald® Children’s Hospital 5K Race/Walk and Children’s Character Competition, which will benefit the NICU renovation. Among the participants are the following people who overcame adversity to make it to race day:

• Five-month-old Liam Wilson will be on hand with his parents, Matt and Julie. Liam went home from the NICU two weeks ago after being born four months early and spending the first 4½ months of his life in the hospital.
• Five-year-old triplets Jack, Maeve and Owen Farrell will run the 100-yard dash while their mom, Becca, will participate in the run. After enduring a particularly difficult pregnancy that included nearly five months of bed rest, Becca, a one-time marathon runner, never imagined that she would race competitively again. However, she found that motherhood added new challenges that made training interesting, and she has run another marathon and several other races since the birth of her triplets.
• Thirteen-year-olds Kate and Claire Wild spent their first few weeks of life in the NICU after being born two months early. Kate will sing the national anthem while Claire will sound the starting gun to kick off the race.

WHEN:  8 a.m. – 5K Run/Walk

9 a.m. – Children’s Character Competition (area sports mascots and characters will be on hand to entertain kids as they race)

WHERE:  Loyola Outpatient Center

2160 S. First Ave., Maywood, Ill., Entrance 3

MEDIA: To interview these race participants, call Nora Dudley in Media Relations, (708) 417-5014.