Runners raise money for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

Sunday, November 22, 2009

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Veronica Miner (right) and her daughter, Nicole, traveled all the way from New Mexico to run.

ST. PETERSBURG (Bay News 9) -- Almost 5,000 people ran through downtown St. Petersburg Sunday to raise money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Some runners at the Women's Half Marathon and 5K crossed the finish line for personal reasons.

Veronica Miner, who has been battling non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma for six years, put her disease aside to run the 5K. She traveled all the way from New Mexico.

"I was telling my fiancé that I felt like I was going to overheat at one point, but I kept going," Miner said. "I did well. A lot of it was psychological, mental and a will to get it done."

She also has her daughter, Nicole, to cheer her on. Nicole ran a half marathon Sunday for her mother.

"Whenever I get through those hard times, I just touch my heart and think she's right here with me. And she battles cancer every single day, and I can't imagine what it's like to get up every morning and go through what she goes through," Nicole said. "I can run 13.1 or a whole marathon for that matter."

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Bonnie and Brandy Bartle, whose younger sister Britney died of leukemia two years ago at age 20, ran their first team-in-training race. Their team is called Britney's Wings.

"I wish we did this two years ago when she was alive, honestly. She would have been here cheering us along. She is here," Bonnie said. "She's with us when we run."

"It just does something inside. It makes you feel alive. It makes her feel alive still," Brandy said. "It makes you feel like she's still here."

Women's Running Magazine sponsored the race. Organizers think Sunday's event raised a million dollars.

Part of that money will stay in the Tampa Bay area to pay for special programs at The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

The rest will fund cancer research across the globe.

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