Families prepare Nationwide Children's marathon 'Angel Mile'
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Thousands of people will take to the streets next Sunday for the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus Marathon.
Each mile participants pass is dedicated to a current patient, except for mile 11. Known as the Angel Mile, former patients who are no longer here with us will be honored by their families.
“The runners will pass by, see our posters and we cheer them on because they are running in their spirit and their remembrance,” said Danielle Spencer, a member of the Butterfly Guild.
On Sunday morning, the Butterfly Guild hosted a poster-making party for the families of former patients. They got to design the posters for their children that they will then hold up at mile 11 while cheering on the runners.
“My youngest, Leah, passed away about two years ago,” Spencer said. “She didn’t get the chance to go home but she was born about two years ago with anencephaly, which is a condition where the neural tube does not form completely.”
Now, Spencer and her family will get to keep Leah’s memory alive.
“I imagine it’s going to be filled with joy, tears and all of the emotions at the same time,” she said. “It’s really powerful. I get goosebumps even thinking about it.”
Loretta Woody also made a sign for her great-grandson Kamarion Woody. The 13-year-old boy was shot in August and died shortly after being treated at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
“I helped raise him the first seven years of his life and he was just an awesome kid,” she said.
Woody said she wants to thank the hospital for all of the work they have done.
“It’s just a wonderful thing the hospital allows us to come together, to be able to participate, be creative and not just see the totally negative or dark side of it because they had a lot of life and we’re showing what they were to us,” she said.
Money from each race registration goes directly toward patient care and research at the hospital.
“We are so proud of the money that they are raising and everything they are doing for the hospital,” Spencer said.
The race will begin at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday at North Bank Park. You can learn more here.