UPDATE: September 21,2008
We ran our first half-marathon this morning and it was an absolutely amazing experience! I beat my goal of 2 hours and 40 minutes by almost thirteen minutes with a finish of 2:27:04! Jim finished at 2 hours and 20 minutes. It was a beautiful day and I know I had the spirit of Kier pushing me through miles 11-13, which were the toughest part of the race for me. Thank you to everyone who has donated to this cause and supported us these past few months! We are looking forward to our next half-marathon...after a bit of a rest!
Thank you for visiting my Personal Fundraising Page for Kier's Kidz/ Alex's Lemonade Stand . Kiersten Hickman-Perfetti was a glorious human being and amazing friend who passed away on April 23, 2007 after a long and brave fight with Rhabdomyosarcoma, a pediatric cancer. Kier did not want her death to be in vain and began an organization known as Kier's Kidz whose fundraising efforts would benefit the children, researchers and health practitioners who battle childhood cancer.
While Kier was still alive, I held a benefit concert at Bartle Elementary School where I am the general and vocal music teacher and where Kier was once a student. On November 13, 2007, over thirty children participated in the performance and $1,000.00 was raised. Since the concert, the students of Bartle Elementary School have held many lemonade stands and bake sales throughout the town of Highland Park where Kier was a life long resident. They have donated their allowances. They spent an afternoon in February with me and wrote Kier Valentine's cards. They baked her cookies. Their social awareness is awe inspiring.
My friendship with and the subsequent loss of Kier has rocked me to my core. Rather than succumbing to the grief, I began to run. I found the time alone to be helpful with my healing process. We were quite the different from one another. She was a basketball player, swimmer, track and field athlete and an artist. I'm not what you would call coordinated so sports were never really my thing. My artistic talents don't go much beyond your standard stick figure. So Kier, a 6 foot college athlete and I, a 5 foot three inch singer/teacher made an interesting pair of friends. However, we found mutual respect and enjoyment in each others' hobbies and passions. We bonded over our love of the Yankees, the Giants, kids and all things food related. Humor and music were also present in our friendship.
I decided that I wanted to challenge myself and honor Kier by running the ING Philly Distance Race, a half-marathon. My husband Jim and I made a "life list" after Kier passed. She had done this and accomplished many of her goals during the last few years of her all too short life- can you believe she met Derek Jeter? Jim and I decided that a distance race and the training for one would be an amazing event that we wanted to experience together. For the past 12 weeks we have been following a training program, running as a team and as individuals. While we both have time goals, the most important thing is that we finish this race and hopefully raise some money and awareness for childhood cancer.
I am asking you to support not only Kier, Jim and myself, but the children who are facing the most difficult race possible in the war with cancer. Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to make a contribution to our fundraising efforts. Many thanks for your support -- and don't forget to forward this to anyone who you think might want to donate too!