2005 Media Reviews
Mary's Walk 2005 REVIEWS
Mary's Walk 2005: An Outpouring of Support
by Liz Gold, The Biddeford Saco O.O.B. Courier
April 7, 2005
The More It Changes The More It Stays The Same
By John Nash, York County Weekend
April 2, 2005
Rain Cannot Dampen the Spirit of Mary's Walk
By John Swinconeck, The Journal Tribune
March 10, 2005
Interview With Jessica Janson
By Randy Seaver, The Biddeford Saco O.O.B. Courier
March 10, 2005
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Mary's Walk 2005: An Outpouring of Support
by Liz Gold, The Biddeford Saco O.O.B. Courier
April 7, 2005
By Liz Gold
Staff Writer
Despite cold temperatures and a threat of rain after a morning of downpours, the seventh annual Mary’s Walk prevailed. Organizers of the Saco benefit for cancer said they had already raised more than $90,000 in donations for the Maine Cancer Foundation by Sunday morning.
The walk and road race, held in downtown Saco, is in memory of Mary Kerry Libby, a Saco resident who lost her battle with cancer in 1997.
“Mary’s Walk is a tradition,” said Gene Libby, Mary’s husband in opening remarks at the start of the race. “It’s a tradition of remembering Mary, but more importantly it’s a tradition of remembering survivors.”
According to Libby, $62,000 had already been donated and pledged by corporate sponsors of the race. There were approximately 1,350 preregistered participants, with 300 runners and 700 walkers involved in the event.
“I think we raised the spirit and hope for those who are struggling with cancer,” Libby said.
Susan Rowan, the executive director of the Maine Cancer Foundation, talked briefly about where the donations go after the event.
“All the money goes into a pool of funds for cancer research and patient education,” Rowan said. “We are fulfilling a niche in the state of Maine that will definitely have an impact for people with cancer.”
On Monday, Rowan said the event raised approximately $130,000, and of the five special events the Maine Cancer Foundation hosts, Mary’s Walk is the largest.
“It’s been great because every year the amount keeps growing,” Rowan said, adding that Mary’s Walk makes up one third of the grant-making budget for the organization. “It is by far the largest special event in terms of money raised. It does make the public more aware. It has had a tremendous impact.”
John Kerry, Mary’s brother, stood next to Gov. John Baldacci and State Sen. Barry Hobbins (D-Saco) during the organizers’ opening remarks. He said preregistrations were above last year, and the donations from last year rung in at about $130,000.
“It’s meaningful,” Kerry said about the community day marked to remember his sister. “Reflective, somewhat painful but at the same time we know how good she was. We’re realizing we’re transforming our pain into good. We know we can lend some comfort. We need to have some courage ourselves to give others hope.”
Kerry, who is the chief executive officer of Catholic Charities of Maine, was among a group of supporters from that organization who were wearing a “God is good” forest green baseball cap. The organization, said to be the highest donating corporate sponsor in collaboration with St. Andre’s Health Care Facility in Biddeford, pledged more than $5,000 for the event.
Kerry said more than 100 individuals within the two organizations pledged the money, not the organization as a whole. This year, the organizations walked in honor of Greg Foltz, the executive director of St. Andre’s, who died from brain cancer in December.
Many participants in the walk had similar stories of knowing someone who was affected by cancer, or because they were honoring someone who had already been taken by the disease.
Employees of Deering Lumber in Biddeford were out and about, boasting roughtly 25 participants in honor of co-worker Nancy Dussault.
Dussault, according to Deering Manager Phil Gendron, spent last year battling breast cancer, and this year she was able to join her crew for the walk.
The Kerrymen Pub Road Race preempted the walk, which is a two and a half-mile loop.
After the race and walk, complimentary Italian sandwiches, pizza, soup and ice cream was given out in the parking lot of the Kerrymen Pub on Main Street.
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The More It Changes The More It Stays The Same
By John Nash, York County Weekend
April 2, 2005
The race may have been tweaked over the years, but the meaning behind it and the memories of who it honors are cemented forever in time.
The 2005 version of the Kerrymen Pub 5K Road Race and Mary's Walk will be held this Sunday, starting at noon, after being pushed back three weeks by a mid-March snowstorm.
Runners will head out from the starting line near the Kerrymen's Pub on Main Street at noon to make the trek across the brand new 5-kilometer (3. 1-mile) course while, shortly after the road race starts, more than a thousand walkers are expected to traverse the more traditional two-and-a-half mile walk that honors Mary Kerry Libby, the youngest of the Kerry children who succumbed to cancer in 1997.
All the proceeds from the race and the walk, which have raised more than $400,000 over the last six years, including $122,000 last year, will go directly to the Maine Cancer Foundation.
According to race co-director Joel Croteau, more than 928 walks and 370 runners have pre-registered for the event and, with a nice day, organizers are hoping for a crowd even larger than last year's 1,900 people to take part.
"I think if we're fortunate enough to have a really good day, if it's 50 degrees and the sun's out. I think it'll help us," Croteau said. " With the type of winter we've had, people are anxious to get out side. A great day will swell the numbers."
Race organizers agonized over the decision postpone three weeks ago but Mother Nature's fury sim ply proved to be too much and Croteau is hoping the new date will not interfere with what a special event the Kerrymen Pub Race and Mary's Walk has become to the community.
"It's such an extraordinary event," he said. There are people every year who look forward to this, who do family get-togethers for this event, or who come from out of state to be a part of it. It's such a tremendous positive event."
The road race actually began in 1980 during the county's running boom and was called the Kerrymen's Pub Shamrock Special. It ran for 10 straight years before slipping off the southern Maine road race schedule.
"It was a wonderful race for about a decade," Croteau said. "Then it stopped for reasons that nobody could really identify."
In 1999, two years after Mary Kerry Libby's untimely death, the road race returned with the addi tion of a walk in Mary's honor to raise money for cancer research money that stays in the state of Maine. Croteau added.
"I know it was fun for the Kerrys and it was fun for the community," Croteau said. "A bunch of other people were interested and they started talking about bringing the race back."
At first, it came back in the tra ditional four-mile course.
However, as the race grew, the runners and the walkers were con verging at different points of the course, Croteau said, so as a matter of convenience and safety this year's course was changed to a 5- kilometer road race while the walkers will walk the usual 2.5 • mile walk..
"It just got to be so uncomfort able, we had to change the course - Croteau said.
As usual, though, the awards cer emony will still be held back at the Kerrymen’s Pub.
While a few things have changed over the years, the emotion and the meaning behind the event has not and that is something Croteau said everybody involved in the day holds special.
It’s grown ." Croteau said. "If you look back at the first year, it was a good start and we were excited about the future. It has grown every year and it's really become a phe nomenon. And the beauty of this event is all the money stays right here in Maine."
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Rain Cannot Dampen the Spirit of Mary's Walk
By John Swinconeck, The Journal Tribune
March 10, 2005
jswinconeck@journaltribune.com
SACO — Wet weather didn’t dampen spirits Sunday for the seventh annual Mary’s Walk and Kerrymen Road Race.
According to organizer Gene Libby, widower of Mary Kerry Libby, about $94,000 was raised Sunday, and pledges were expected to bring in another $40,000 for cancer research in Maine.
“It brings out a lot of emotion,” Libby said before the event. “It’s great that it’s done in Mary’s name, and that it’s brought out so many to do something about cancer in Maine.”
Libby thanked the community for its support, and said the walk was a time for those whose family has been affected by cancer to take action and show solidarity.
For the first time in its history, Mary’s Walk had been delayed this year for several weeks due to a March snow storm. Rain had buffeted Saco Sunday morning, but it stopped by the start of the event.
“We hoped the luck of the Irish and Mary would be looking down at us,” said Mary Rowan of the Maine Cancer Foundation. “She stopped the rain.”
Mary Kerry Libby was an avid walker who was well recognized during her daily walks on Main Street, across Water Street to Elm Street and back.
While she lost her battle with cancer in 1997, Mary’s Walk has raised about $500,000 over the last seven years.
“Mary’s Walk is a tradition,” Libby told the crowd of several hundred before the walk, and said that while the event began in Mary’s name, people now walk in support or remembrance to those who have struggled with cancer.
Gov. John Baldacci, who attended the event as honorary co-chairman, said Mary’s Walk has come to mean something different to everyone.
In an interview after the event, Baldacci recalled how his own father succumbed to pancreatic cancer. “I know the kind of whole that leaves in a family,’ he said.
“Everyone has a story,” he told the walkers.
Kelly Moody of Hollis and her family were walking for her sister-in-law, Tracy Curit of Saco.
“Tracy was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was eight months pregnant with twins,” Moody said.
Curit, 31, succumbed to the disease two years ago, but not before doing the walk herself.
“The last thing we did, two years ago, is we walked with her,” Moody said. “We finished dead last, but it’s something Tracy believed in.”
On Sunday, Curit’s family did the walk wearing sweatshirts upon which her image and the phrase “Tracy’s Angels” were printed.
“We always thank the community for supporting this event,” said Rowan. “It confirms that this means something.”
And in case you were wondering, the slogan for Mary’s Walk, “slancha,” is derived from the Gaelic toast “slai’nte,” that translates “to your health.” According to Gene Libby, Mary Kerry Libby wanted to have “slai’nte” be on her license plate, but that it was unavailable. So she used the phonic pronunciation for her plate instead, and it has now been adopted by Mary’s Walk.
All proceeds of the walk goes to benefit the Maine Cancer Foundation.
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Interview With Jessica Janson
By Randy Seaver, The Biddeford Saco O.O.B. Courier
March 10, 2005
By Randy Seaver
Editor
Jessica Janson works hard to control her emotions while talking about her mother’s seven-year battle with breast cancer. Rather than dwell on the tremendous grief she has been coping with for the last few weeks, Jessica instead follows her late mother’s example and keeps our conversation focused upon hope and encouragement for the future.
A 17-year-old Thornton Academy senior, Jessica will be one of the featured speakers at this year’s Mary’s Walk, an annual Saco event designed to raise money for ongoing cancer research.
Inspired by the passion of the late Mary Kerry Libby, Mary’s Walk was started in 1999 and traces the route that Mary consistently walked as part of her daily exercise regimen until just a short while before her untimely death in March 1997 as the result of cancer.
Since its inception, Mary’s Walk has become a statewide event and has raised more than $250,000 for ongoing cancer research at the Maine Cancer Foundation. This year, Mary’s Walk will be held on Sunday, March 13.
For Jessica, participating in Mary’s Walk will represent a large leap in her own healing process. Her mother, Elaine L. Wyman, 44, died in the early morning hours of January 30, only a few weeks after a family trip to her hometown in Michigan.
Born on May 29, 1960, Elaine grew up in a Detroit suburb before moving to Maine with her family during her senior year of high school. She graduated from Biddeford High School in 1978.
Elaine Wyman was well known in Saco. She was described by family and friends as an incredibly outgoing person with boundless energy and enthusiasm, especially when it came to her children and their friends.
She served as president of the CK Burns Parent Teacher Organization and also participated in PTO activities at Saco Middle School and Fairfield School. She volunteered in many school activities and worked in the Saco School Department’s administrative offices.
Jessica was only 10 years old when she learned that her mother had cancer. Her brother, Jonathan was 7, and her youngest brother, Jacob was just two years old.
“My mom and step-dad got us all together on the couch,” she recalled. “They told us that she might die and that it was very serious. We didn’t even know what cancer was. We all burst into tears, but they also told us that she was going to fight. And she did fight.”
Tell us about your mother.
“She was so amazing. She never acted like she was in pain. She always, always put me and my brothers first. She only cared about us being happy.”
What’s your earliest memory of your mother?
“She loved having my friends come over to the house during summer vacation, and she would always make these smorgasbords of snacks for us. I remember her baking. She was always doing something with us, crafts, pool parties. . . tons of stuff.”
You look and sound as if you’re dealing with this pretty well.
“It’s because of my friends. We’ve all come together again after growing apart for a while. I don’t think I could have got through this without them. They have been really strong for me.”
Your mother fought her cancer for more than seven years. It must have taken a toll on your family.
“Maybe once a week, I would remember that she had cancer. She wanted our lives to be normal. She was such a hard worker, and so full of life. She didn’t want the cancer to be part of our lives. It wasn’t denial, it was more the spirit of who she was that kept fighting.
A few weeks before she passed away, your family took a trip to Michigan.
“Twice a year, we would drive to Michigan to see Mom’s family, her two brothers and three sisters. We’d go just after Christmas and again in the summer. But this trip was different.
“Right after Christmas, I could tell that she wasn’t feeling well. She started a new medication, but she pushed all of us to go. My grandmother Jackie, her mother, died of breast cancer just two months after being diagnosed. She never had time for doctors. My mom made time for the doctors, but the family was more important to her.”
Where were you when you heard that she died?
“She went into the hospital sometime in early January. It wasn’t the first time, but this time she had a ventilator. She had undergone a bone marrow transplant, and I had a bad feeling that she wouldn’t come back home again.
“I was spending the night at my friend’s house, Kate Melanson. My other friends, Angela Bell, Kristina Queen and Allyson Lambert, were there with us. The phone woke me up at around 4 a.m. It was my step-dad.
Your friends will be joining you on Sunday for Mary’s Walk.
“You really do find out who your true friends are when something like this happens. I’m so glad that we’ve all come together after growing apart. We have a group of about 20 people lined up, and we’re calling ourselves Elaine’s Angels.”
How much have you raised so far?
“About $300. It (Mary’s Walk) came up so soon, I didn’t really have time to plan for it. We got a lot of people to sponsor us. It wasn’t hard.”
How has your mother’s battle with cancer changed you?
“I get really grossed out by blood and stuff, and never thought I could be a doctor, even though I’m in the top-10 of my class and have good grades. Now, I sometimes think I want to be a doctor, but I don’t know.
“But I do know that I want them to find a cure. Cancer really, really sucks. I want people to know that we need to find a cure. I want women to know that they need to get mammograms. It’s scary, and it needs to stop.
“I really want to go to the FBI academy, so maybe I’ll just marry a doctor and make him find the cure (Laughs). But I know that it’s something that will keep driving me.”
Are you nervous about speaking in front of such a large crowd?
“No, not really. My friends and family will be there. I spoke at a school meeting two weeks ago. We did two sessions where I talked about my mom’s battle with cancer. In the first session, I was pretty nervous, but then I was a lot more confident in the second session.
“No matter what, I know my mom will be with me. So, it will be okay.”
Note: The seventh annual Mary’s Walk will be held on Sunday, March 13. Registration begins at 10 a.m. at Thornton Academy’s Linnel Gymnasium, 438 Main Street in Saco. For more information, visit www.maryswalk.org
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