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Running for help: Friends raise funds to benefit Alex
Tuesday, April 14, 1998 By Ellen Mazo, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Within a day after Alex Myers was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, friends and neighbors struggled with how to help the Oakmont family.
They brought food and presents and prayers for Alex, his parents, Sharon and Paul, and his sister, Tyler.
Soon, Myers' friends Mary McIntyre, 43, and Ginny Wright, 39, began running. And running - all for the 6-year-old boy.
They will be part of the Leukemia Society of America's Team in Training program, which last year raised an estimated $20 million on behalf of patients like Alex.
In 1993, the first year of Team in Training, 650 runners raised $1 million.
The Leukemia Society expects to raise $25 million with 15,000 runners this year.
In return for soliciting funds for the Leukemia Society, the organization provides coaching and travel expenses to major marathons.
McIntyre and Wright so far have raised more than $3,000 to run the Pittsburgh Marathon on May 3.
"It was something I never thought I could do," said Wright, who has three sons.
"People have been very generous. A lot of people who don't even know Alex have contributed," Wright said.
"I think the fact that you're doing a marathon inspires people."
A friend of the Myers, Carol Misiura, who lives in Atlanta, has already raised more than $3,000 in Alex's name to run the San Diego Rock 'n Roll Marathon on June 21.
"I saw Alex the other day," Wright said, "and he had his hat on. He was having a bad day. He's usually so strong, so happy. Every once in awhile it hits you, what they're going through. We're glad we can do this."
For more information about the Leukemia Society's Team in Training, call 412-395-2873.
Alex Myers has touched the hearts, and pocketbooks, of a lot of people, Children's Hospital has learned.
More than $100,000 has been raised since November, when Children's sent out 22,000 letters telling about his treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Of that amount, donors designated about $6,000 for cancer research at the Marty Ostrow Hematology/Oncology Treatment Center, where Alex is being treated. Unless someone makes a designation, like oncology research, the donation goes to a general Children's Hospital fund.
Donations can be sent to Children's Hospital, Development Department, 3705 Fifth Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa. 15213. Be sure to specify the designation of your donation.
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