A race rich in stories, memories

The inaugural Hoosiers Outrun Cancer Run/Walk, that aimed to increase awareness of cancer and raise money to fight it, drew about 2,300 participants to campus Saturday.\nFor every walker and for every volunteer, it seems, there's a story to tell.\nTeam Jenny\nThis year, Jenny Suhr would have been a senior, turned 21 and been the president of Kappa Kappa Gamma.\nSenior Jaime Cutler, president of Kappa Kappa Gamma, said she and Suhr were pledge sisters. \n"She had a smile that just sort of reeled you in," Cutler said.\nGail Sidney, vice president of the Chamber of Commerce and master of ceremonies for the race, wrote about Jenny's story for a race-promotion handout.\nIn November, Jenny came down with what her parents thought was the flu.\nDoctors diagnosed her with brain cancer and told her she was dying.\nBut for Jenny, her parents Jane and Buck and her brother Errek, there was "no giving in or giving up," Sidney said.\n"She was so optimistic about beating it, we all thought she would," Cutler said.\nShe died Dec. 29.\nSaturday, about 250 people walked for Jenny -- the largest team in the race. Sixty-five participants were from Kappa Kappa Gamma.\nSidney said relatives and friends from all over the country also made the trip to honor her.\n"It was strange, because I never thought I would have to be walking for an actual person -- someone so young and my age," Cutler said. "As much as it made us sad, it kind of put a smile on our face, because all we were thinking about was her."\nBuck Suhr, Jenny's father, is an administrative assistant for football coach Cam Cameron and does radio color commentary. Jenny's mother Jane wrote on a memorial pennant, "Miss you Jenny. Go IU. Beat Michigan," Cutler said.\n"That's what she would have been doing today," she said.\nA long road\nRobert Walks was wearing a red IU hat when he approached volunteer check-in coordinator Anita Schneider the morning of the race. He asked Schneider if he was too late to help.\nSchneider said no.\n"He had a lot of family members who passed away from cancer and had been a big Indiana fan," said Carol Gillard, race-day manager.\nWalks, who lives in Montana, drove alone and arrived just before the race offering to help out, Schneider said.\n"I just stood here totally in awe because he had done this," Schneider said. "It was really kind of emotional."\nSelling his pants\nSteve Bunjan, a Bloomington resident, was walking with his son Sam Bunjan and his son's girlfriend Tanya Spencer.\nHis dad died from colon cancer and sister-in-law died from breast cancer.\nSteve Bunjan's khaki pants were covered with names and messages. They are his retirement pants from Orkin Pest Control.\nWhen Steve Bunjan found out about the event, he sent out 40 letters -- offering to write, on his pants, names of sponsors who would pledge $20.\n"I knew for Coach Knight and Karen this was very important," he said. \nHe sent out the letters the last week of September. His wife found out she had breast cancer Oct. 4. Steve Bunjan raised $850.\nWearing orange\nThe team of 18 from Alpha Phi were distinctive Saturday in their orange shirts.\nOrganized by junior Katie Zimmerman, the team raised over $300.\n"Cancer affects a lot of people in a lot of ways," Zimmerman said. "It's a way to support a good cause and for the house to have fun together."\nThe team walked in memory of her best friend's dad, Phil Buchanan, who died of bone cancer this year.\nSaturday would have been his birthday.\nFirsts at the finish\nSophomore Whitney Bevins, who runs on the IU cross-country team, was the first female finisher.\nShe ran in memory of Margie Luna, her friend from high school. Luna died of Rhabdomyosarcoma in August of her senior year.\n"(Margie) was incredibly strong throughout the whole experience," Bevins said.\nThe first male finisher, alumnus Tom Chorny, was on IU's track and cross-country teams.\nKaren Knight, event co-chair, finished second place in her age division, after speaking at the beginning of the race, and honoring her mother.\nAnd there was P.A. Mack, Jr., past member of the board of trustees, former chief of staff for Senator Birch Bayh, and current member of the Commission for Higher Education. He finished first in the 70-and-over division. His wife is a cancer patient, and he walked for her and all her friends.\nSaturday, Hoosiers Outrun Cancer raised more than $200,000. Perhaps more important, it gave many who've been affected by cancer the chance to share their stories -- and hear others. They walked in remembrance of those who have succumbed, in celebration of survivors and to fight a disease that leaves few unaffected.\n"The amazing thing is all the stories here," said Keith Klein, master of ceremonies.