The Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus Marathon & ½ Marathon is pleased to announce the mile assignments and themes for its field of “Patient Champions” who will represent 24 of the 26.2 miles on this year’s course. The other two miles along the Marathon route will be deemed the “Encore Mile” and “Angel Mile.”
After submitting personal stories through social networking sites and the hospital’s website, Patient Champions, who are current patients of Nationwide Children’s, were selected by hospital staff based on various criteria including diversity of diagnosis, age and enthusiasm to cheer on race participants at their mile, among other criteria. A full list of Patient Champions can be found below. Patient Champions were encouraged to create a theme or team name that best represented their personality and interests.
Additionally, the Encore Mile (Mile 18) will invite the 49 Patient Champions who were honored along the 2012 and 2013 race routes and the Angel Mile is dedicated to the angels of Nationwide Children’s who have already run their race. The Angel Mile (Mile 11) will be lined with white feather banners and represented by families honoring their children while cheering on participants.
Marathon and ½ Marathon participants are encouraged to raise donations on behalf of Nationwide Children’s. In the past two years, between participants’ fundraising efforts, corporate and community sponsorships and matches by the Marathon board, more than $2 million has been raised for Nationwide Children’s. The 2014 edition of the Marathon and ½ Marathon is sold out.
Partners that have committed to sponsoring a Miracle Mile along the 2014 Marathon route include: Platinum Sponsors The Columbus Dispatch, LBrands Foundation and Nationwide Insurance; Gold Sponsors Cardinal Health and Walmart/Sam’s Club; and Silver Sponsors Big Lots, Bob Evans, Campus Parc, Clif Bar, Columbus Blue Jackets, Fifth Third Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Kohl’s Department Stores, The Kroger Company, Panera, Stynchula Family Foundation with CarMax and The Superior Group.
To read more about the Patient Champions’ stories and to support Nationwide Children’s, visit nationwidechildrens.org/marathon.
The 2014 Patient Champions:
• Mile 1: Nixon Brower, 1, Transposition of the Great Vessels, Westerville, OH 43082
Theme: “Hollywood”
• Mile 2: Grace Glaros, 6, Spina Bifida, Columbus, OH 43235, Theme: “Valentine Mile”
• Mile 3: Charlee Gaietto, 2, Micro-preemie, Tiffin, OH 44883, Theme: “Halloween”
• Mile 4: Ishallar W. Bryant, 13, Elevated Hemoglobin/A1c/Anemia, Westerville, OH 43081 Theme: “Cleveland Cavaliers”
• Mile 5: Tyler Lutz, 10, Autism, Reynoldsburg, OH 43068
Theme: “Puzzles: Autism Awareness”
• Mile 6: Roman Pettograsso, 8, Type 1 Diabetes, Galena, OH 43021, Theme: “Minecraft”
• Mile 7: Elena Miller, 6, Profound hearing loss, Columbus, OH 43220
Theme: “American Girl”
• Mile 8: Rayne McCann, 9, Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita, Reynoldsburg, OH 43068, Theme: “Camouflage”
• Mile 9: Sophia Kline, 9, Congenital Heart Defect, Logan, OH 43138, Theme: “Hearts”
• Mile 10: Colette Frommeyer, 18, Head injury, Dublin, OH 43017, Theme: “Neon”
• Mile 11: Angel Mile
• Mile 12: Alex Dean, 14, Facial/Mouth/Head Injury, Dublin, OH 43017, Theme: “Shine On”
• Mile 13: Avery Barbato, 4, Tyrosinemia 1, Dayton, OH 45458
Theme: “TYRO Tinkerbells”
• Mile 14: Addison Christopher, 8, Cerebral Palsy, Canal Winchester, OH, 43110
Theme: “Under the Sea”
• Mile 15: Devon Spence, 10, Traumatic Brain Injury, Johnstown, OH 43031
Theme: “Madagascar: Move It, Move It”
• Mile 16: Madison Pharo, 18, Bilateral Wilm's Tumor, Whitehall, OH 43213, Theme: “OSU”
• Mile 17: Kaylin Williams, 4, Epilepsy, Canal Winchester, OH 43110
Theme: “Bubbles/Purple”
• Mile 18: Encore Mile
• Mile 19: Dalton Miller, 9, Type 1 Diabetes, Newark, OH 43055, Theme: Car Racing
• Mile 20: Oliver Quezko Shelpman, 6, Primary Immune Disease /Heart Transplant, Grove City, OH 43123, Theme: “Disco/YMCA”
• Mile 21: Grace Kirura, 3, Cleft lip/palate, Blacklick, OH 43004,
Theme: “Sparkle and Shine”
• Mile 22: Gabe Carlisle, 10, Autism, Baltimore, OH 43105
Theme: “John Deer Tractor Trailers and Trucks
• Mile 23: Camila Trefftz, 19, Adolescent Rumination Syndrome, Grand Rapids, MI 49546 Theme: “Super Heroes
• Mile 24: Reagan McGee, 2, Sanfilippo Syndrome, Columbus, OH 43081
Theme: “You are My Sunshine”
• Mile 25: Ian Straight, 11, Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Lancaster, OH 43130, Theme: “Legos”
• Mile 26: Emma Dickman, 8, Cerebral Palsy, Dublin, OH 43017
Theme: “Emma’s Greatest Dream/Butterflies”
The 35th Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus Marathon & ½ Marathon will be held on Sunday, October 19, 2014 and will have the capacity of 7,000 full marathoners and 11,000 ½ Marathoners. The Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus Marathon is among the 17th largest marathons. For more information, visit www.columbusmarathon.com.
About Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Ranked 7th of only 10 children's hospitals on U.S. News & World Report’s 2014-15 “America’s Best Children’s Hospitals Honor Roll,” Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit freestanding pediatric healthcare networks providing wellness, preventive, diagnostic, treatment and rehabilitative care for infants, children and adolescents, as well as adult patients with congenital disease. Nationwide Children’s, also ranked among the Top 10 on Parents magazine’s 2013 “Best Children’s Hospitals” list, has a medical staff of 1,100 and nearly 10,000 employees providing state-of-the-art pediatric care for one million patient visits annually. As home to the Department of Pediatrics of The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Nationwide Children’s physicians train the next generation of pediatricians and pediatric specialists. The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of the Top 10 National Institutes of Health-funded freestanding pediatric research facilities. Nationwide Children’s remains true to the original mission since its founding in 1892 of providing care regardless of a family’s ability to pay. More information is available at NationwideChildrens.org.