It All Adds Up
Students, Faculty and Friends at St. Christopher’s School Help Raise Funds
“Everything counts,” says Harrison McVey. “If you get 10 people to raise $5 that’s extremely helpful. It all adds up.” McVey should know. His fundraising efforts as part of the 2011 Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10k added up to $10,000 in support of VCU Massey Cancer Center.
McVey, a senior at Richmond’s St. Christopher’s School, is a captain for the “St. ChristoCURES,” the school’s fundraising team for the 2013 event, which takes place on Saturday, April 13. It’s the fourth year the school has entered a team in the HDL, Inc. Massey Challenge.
“My job is to raise awareness about the event and about cancer,” McVey explains. “I know there are lots of people in the St. Christopher’s community who are affected by cancer every day and I want to set an example for the other guys about coming out and raising awareness and raising money. The main thing is to get motivated.”
Young McVey’s motivation is his mother, who was diagnosed with rectal cancer in 2011. “She’s doing really well. She’s completely done with cancer and, hopefully, she’ll be running with me this year,” he said. As the top individual fundraiser for the 2011 Massey Challenge, McVey is a role model. “I’m trying to set an example for others. It’s not that hard to raise money. Basically anybody can do it.”
Like Harrison McVey, Kim Hudson was also motivated by her mother to participate in the Massey Challenge. Hudson, a resource teacher in St. Christopher’s upper school and a faculty sponsor for the St. ChristoCURES team, lost her mother to cancer in 2005 and the experience inspired her to help the team succeed. “My mother was a patient at Massey,” Hudson said. “They were wonderful. I want to do anything I can to encourage the boys and to give back myself.”
Hudson’s mother’s breast cancer eventually spread to her liver and brain. “It’s a hard road. She went through stereotactic radiation therapy,” Hudson explained. “It gave her the gift of two months of feeling pretty good and being herself again. It was amazing. It was a gift we were given. We had marvelous doctors and nurses.”
Both McVey and Hudson hope, through the St. ChristoCURES experience, that others become aware of all that is being done in cancer research.
“It might take only five minutes to send an email to raise money for the Massey Challenge,” said McVey. “That money could save somebody’s life. Everybody can help get rid of cancer.”
For the eighth year, Massey Cancer Center has been named an official race charity of the Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10k. The HDL, Inc. Massey Challenge enables 10k participants to run or walk to support the fight against cancer. In 2012, 160 teams and 1,500 people participated in the Massey Challenge and together raised more than $500,000. Only money raised through the HDL, Inc. Massey Challenge supports the fight against cancer. No portion of the race entry fee supports Massey Cancer Center.
To learn more about the Health Diagnostic Laboratory, Inc. Massey Challenge or to check on “St. ChristoCURES” progress, please visit www.run4massey.org or call (804) 828-1451.