Nationwide Childrens Hospital Columbus Marathon & ½ Marathon Announce 2017 Patient Champions

July 31, 2017

The Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus Marathon & ½ Marathon is pleased to announce its “Patient Champions” who will represent 24 of the 26 miles on this year’s course. The other two miles along the Marathon route will be deemed the “Encore Mile” and “Angel Mile,” and many miles will be sponsored by a corporate or community organization.

After reviewing more than 200 submissions of personal stories submitted through social networking sites and the hospital’s website, Patient Champions, who are current or former patients of Nationwide Children’s, were selected by a committee of hospital staff based on various criteria, including diversity of diagnosis, age and enthusiasm to cheer on race participants at their mile. A full list of Patient Champions can be found below.

The Encore Mile will feature Patient Champions who were honored along the race route the previous five years. The Angel Mile is dedicated to the angels of Nationwide Children’s who are no longer here with us. The Angel Mile will be lined with 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. More than $6 million have been raised for Nationwide Children’s since 2012 thanks to participants’ fundraising efforts, corporate and community sponsorships and matches by the Marathon board. To register to become a Children’s Champion, please click here. 

Corporate or community organizations interested in becoming a partner in this year’s event may contact Morgen Spon with Nationwide Children’s Hospital Foundation at (614) 355-5419. To read more about the Patient Champions’ stories and to support Nationwide Children’s, click here.

The 38th Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus Marathon & ½ Marathon will be held on Sunday, October 15, 2017 and will feature up to 18,000 athletes. The Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus Marathon is the largest marathon in Ohio and one of the top 20 marathons in the United States. For more information, visit http://www.columbusmarathon.com/.

The 2017 Patient Champions: 

• Deacon Binegar, 11, Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, Danville, OH 43014

• Olivia Cacchio, 9, Bilateral Hearing Loss, Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome, Necrotizing Enterocolitis, Grove City, OH 43123

• Allie Crescenzi, 9, Enlarged Tonsils and Adenoids, Grove City, OH 43123

• Bo Bidwell, 6, Short Bowel Syndrome, Heath, OH 43056

• Izzy Ford, 6, Down Syndrome, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia, Circleville, OH 43113

• Mya Garrison, 15, Atypical Septic Shock, Supraventricular Tachycardia, Blacklick, OH 43004

• Ally Oross, 9, Cleft Lip and Palate, Grandview, OH 43212

• Sawyer Gohs, 8, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Bexley, OH 43209

• Amelia Griffin, 7, Stage IV Neuroblastoma, Ada, OH 45810

• Joseph Iozzi, 4, Extreme Prematurity, Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia , Retinopathy of Prematurity, Hilliard, OH 43016

• Jacob Koch, 11, Wilms’ Tumor, Powell, OH 43065

• Matthew Manivilovski, 11, Traumatic Brain Injury, Delaware, OH 43015

• Ashlee Mascolino, 15, Asthma, Selective Immune Deficiency, Migraines, Hilliard, OH 43026

• Trevan McCracken, 4, Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, Findlay, OH 45840

• Andrew Nichols, 11, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Newark, OH 43055

• Anna Marie Peterman, 17, Moebius Syndrome, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Anxiety, GI Motility Disorder, Marysville, OH  43040

• Carson Roof, 7, Cerebral Palsy, Occipital Encephalocele, Carey, OH 43316

• Halle Roper, 13, Down Syndrome, Atrioventricular Septal Defect, Dublin, OH 43016

• Joshua Rumschlag, 4, Extreme Prematurity, Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia, Amblyopia, Esotropia, Hilliard, OH 43026

• William Schaefer, 16, Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Large Diffuse B Cell, Lexington, OH 44904

• Isabel Smeltzer, 13, Osteogenesis Imperfecta, Zanesville, OH 43701

• Kyla Thompson, 12, Tetralogy of Fallot, Type I Diabetes Frankfort, KY 40601

• Jagger Thornton, 5, Type I Diabetes, Mansfield, OH 44907

• Bella Walter, 7, Phelan McDermid Syndrome, Polymicrogyria, Cortical Visual Impairment, Autonomic Dysfunction, Arlington, OH 45814

 

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About Nationwide Children's Hospital

Named to the Top 10 Honor Roll on U.S. News & World Report’s 2023-24 list of “Best Children’s Hospitals,” Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of America’s largest not-for-profit free-standing pediatric health care systems providing unique expertise in pediatric population health, behavioral health, genomics and health equity as the next frontiers in pediatric medicine, leading to best outcomes for the health of the whole child. Integrated clinical and research programs, as well as prioritizing quality and safety, are part of what allows Nationwide Children’s to advance its unique model of care. Nationwide Children’s has a staff of more than 14,000 that provides state-of-the-art wellness, preventive and rehabilitative care and diagnostic treatment during more than 1.7 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 Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of the Top 10 National Institutes of Health-funded free-standing pediatric research facilities. More information is available at NationwideChildrens.org.