The Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus Marathon & ½ Marathon is pleased to announce the mile 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.” The full list of Patient Champions, their mile themes and mile assignments are below.
The marathon Patient Champions represent every child treated at Nationwide Children’s, with more than one million patient visits each year. They have shared their stories to inspire the athletes and will cheer for them along every mile of the course.
The Encore Mile will feature Patient Champions who were honored along the 2012, 2013 and 2014 race routes. The Angel Mile is dedicated to the angels of Nationwide Children’s who have already run their race. The Angel Mile will be lined with white feather banners and represented by families celebrating the lives of their children while cheering on participants.
Marathon and ½ Marathon participants are encouraged to serve as “Children’s Champions” and raise donations on behalf of Nationwide Children’s. In the past three years, between participants’ fundraising efforts, corporate and community sponsorships and matches by the Marathon board, more than $3 million has been raised for Nationwide Children’s. To register to become a Children’s Champion visit NationwideChildrens.org/marathon.
Partners that have committed to sponsoring a Miracle Mile along the 2015 Marathon route include: Platinum Sponsors LBrands and Nationwide; Gold Sponsors Cardinal Health and Columbus Dispatch; and Silver Sponsors Alliance Data, Big Lots, Campus Parc, Clif Bar, EAS Sports Nutrition, Fifth Third Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Kohl’s Department Stores, Kroger, Organic Valley, Panera, PNC, Rocky Brands with Lucky Shoes, Stynchula Family Foundation with CarMax, The Superior Group and Zest Juice.
Corporate or community organizations interested in becoming a partner in this year’s event may contact Haley Dominique with Nationwide Children’s Hospital Foundation at (614) 355-5421.
To read more about the Patient Champions’ stories and to support Nationwide Children’s, visit NationwideChildrens.org/marathon-miracle-mile-patients.
The 36th Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus Marathon & ½ Marathon will be held on Sunday, October 18, 2015. The ½ Marathon is sold out with 12,000 participants and there is limited space available for the full course, which has a capacity of 7,000. Marking its 10th anniversary this year, the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus Marathon is the 16th largest marathon in the United States and one of the top marathons to qualify runners for the Boston Marathon. For more information, visit www.columbusmarathon.com.
The 2015 Patient Champions:
• Mile 1: Ailee Gilliland, 4, Facial Burns, Hilliard, OH 43026 – Theme: Super Heroes
• Mile 2: Sebastian Longstreth, 3, Down Syndrome and Chronic Respiratory Failure, Zanesville, OH 43701– Theme: I think I can, I think I can…I CAN!
• Mile 3: Deirdre Ogilvie, 4, Congenital Heart Defect, Lancaster, OH 43130 – Theme: Over the Rainbow
• Mile 4: Makaila Manley, 8, Spina Bifida, Grove City, OH 43123 – Theme: Halloween
• Mile 5: Charlotte Baker, 3, Wilms’ Tumor, Glenford, OH 43739 – Theme: Pink and Purple Butterflies
• Mile 6: Olivia Cameron, 6, Osteogenesis Imperfecta, Dublin, OH 43017 – Theme: Pink and Purple Dance Party
• Mile 7: Caroline Gilani, 7, Wilms’ Tumor, New Albany, OH 43054 – Theme: Baby Animals
• Mile 8: Gwen Mouat, 9, Metabolic Disorder, New Albany, OH 43054 – Theme: American Girl
• Mile 9: Gunner Myers, 2, Spinal Muscular Atrophy, Wellston, OH 45692 – Theme: Thomas the Train -“The Mile You Trained For”
• Mile 10: Kolby Sherick, 4, Langer Giedion Syndrome, Marysville, OH 43040 – Theme: Flowers
• Mile 11: Angel Mile
• Mile 12: Casper Montgomery, 18, High Triglycerides, Dublin, OH 43017 – Theme: Run to Your Own Rhythm
• Mile 13: Asher Taylor, 1, Cleft Lip & Palate, Grove City, OH 43123 – Theme: Mickey Mouse & Disney
• Mile 14: Madeleine Scott, 6, Chronic Allergic Inflammation , Delaware, OH 43015 Theme: Purple People GrEEters
• Mile 15: Billy Chapman, 13, Legg-Clave-Perthes Disease, Columbus, OH 43228 – Theme: Ohio State
• Mile 16: Owen Mottie, 5, Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, Chillicothe, OH 45601 – Theme: Minions
• Mile 17: Jacob Addington, 5, Infantile Cerebral Palsy, Plymouth, OH 45654 – Theme: Super Mario
• Mile 18: Encore Mile
• Mile 19: James DeSantis, 7, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Columbus, OH 43221 – Theme: Star Wars
• Mile 20: Jenna Barnett, 24, Ewings Sarcoma, Columbus, OH 43202 – Theme: Honey, You’re at Mile 20
• Mile 21: Emily Gordon, 11, Cystic Fibrosis, Groveport, OH 43125 – Theme: Rainbows
• Mile 22: Marissa Womack, 19, Autism, Reynoldsburg, OH 43068 – Theme: Ohana (Family-No one gets left behind or forgotten)
• Mile 23: Stormy Cushing, 23, Traumatic Brain Injury, Caledonia, OH 43314 – Theme: Safari
• Mile 24: Jermaine Davis, 13, Severe Hemophilia, Lancaster, OH 43130 – Theme: Superman at the Beach
• Mile 25: Brenna Burrell, 11, Prematurity, Columbus, OH 43235 – Theme: Inspiration
• Mile 26: Roman Cumpston, 7, Unilateral Hearing Loss, Columbus, OH 43228 – Theme: Spiderman
About Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Ranked 9th of only 12 children's hospitals on U.S. News & World Report’s 2015-16 “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 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.