Laura's Smile Foundation

What’s new? Packet Pick up and parking!

Amy Jahns — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:44:48 +0000

New for 2013
This year we have three new features. First, we will have more parking available. We have rented the additional grass parking lot near the main pavilion when you enter the park along East Lagoon Drive. We will also be using a chip timing system for all 5K race participants; chips will be attached to your racing bibs. Finally, we are offering a gear check tent to keep your belongings safe and secure during the event.

Advance Goodie Bag Pickup
You have the option to pick up your goodie bags, racing bibs and T-shirts in advance at Performance Running Outfitters (4533 N. Oakland Ave. in Shorewood) between 11am–7pm on Friday May 31st.
• Team members can pick up their individual goodie bags.
• Friends/family members will be able to pick up goodie bags on your behalf. However, we
will have a log at the pre-race pick up where the individuals needs to put down their name
and whose race packet they picked up.
• Goodie bags for children registered for the Giggle Gallop will also be available.

Check in Information
If you don’t pick up your goodie bags Friday, upon arriving at the park Saturday, please locate the tent near the pavilion that is designated for those who have pre-registered. Here you will receive your racing bib number and complimentary goodie bag. For those of you that included a $10 donation for a t-shirt with your registration, the t-shirt will be included inside your goodie bag. Check in begins at 8:00 a.m.and we encourage you to check in early in order to ensure a timely start to the race.

See you Saturday!
Laura’s Smile Foundation

PS. If you have registered as part of a team, we will have a separate tent marked “team registration” for those participants where you can pick up your goodie bags on Saturday.

Team Spotlight: Gail’s Groupies

Amy Jahns — Mon, 27 May 2013 16:41:35 +0000

Tell me about yourself and why you created a team to run/walk Laura’s Smile Mile.

Our friend Gail is an ovarian cancer survivor. She is passionate about getting the word out about the whispers of ovarian cancer. As part of this passion, she has encouraged us to participate in the Laura’s Smile Mile event every year. In light of this, we decided to form a team this year.

What is the story behind the name your team name?

5 years ago, a group of us women met while training for the Wisconsin Half Marathon in Kenosha. We have been meeting every Saturday morning to run since! Our group is here to support Gail and we are her groupies! (The Groupies are in the attached picture, with Gail giving the thumbs up in the purple hoodie on the right.)

How many people will be participating with the team? Will you be doing something special like team t-shirts, signs,etc.?

We should have at least 10 folks on the team and will be wearing teal!Anything else you would like to add?

People like Gail and Laura are why the message is getting spread about ovarian cancer. Friendship and courage are how we are eventually going to defeat it!

Team Spotlight: Jane’s Support Staff

Amy Jahns — Mon, 27 May 2013 16:35:10 +0000

Jane McLaughlin is a parishioner and employee of St. Anthony on the Lake Catholic Church in Pewaukee, Wisconsin. She was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer in February and after surgery is currently undergoing extensive chemo at Froedtert. She has two sons, Matt and Ryan and an extremely loving, supportive husband Dan.

We a part of “Jane’s Support Staff” are members of St. Anthony’s and/or co-workers who are with her on her journey thru the chemo period.

When Jane, Barb and myself went to order a wig for the after effects of chemo, an employee at Froedtert asked who Barb and I were and Jane said, “they are my support staff”. That struck a chord and stayed with us so hence her family, friends and co-workers are her “support staff”.

Part of “Jane’s Support Staff are her neighbors and friends thru contacts with her boys. The rest of us which currently number 48 are from St. Anthony’s where we miss her terribly.

Thanks and God bless your work with this cause!

Maureen Michaels

Team Spotlight: Shmiles for Shmom

Amy Jahns — Fri, 24 May 2013 15:08:37 +0000

Tell me about yourself and why you created a team to run/walk Laura’s Smile Mile.

My name is Marie Wierzbinski. I am a 21-year-old advertising/PR student at UW-Milwaukee. I created Shmiles for Shmom for my mom, Kris Wierzbinski, who was diagnosed with late Stage 4 Ovarian Cancer in February of 2011. She underwent almost immediate surgery and started her weekly chemotherapy treatments after recovery. She finished chemo in late 2012, only to recently find out her cancer is back. Shmiles for Shmom developed as a way for her friends and family to come and show their support and inspire her to keep moving forward.

What is the story behind the name your team name?

When I was in high school, the trend was to put “Shm” in front of everyone’s name. I started calling my mom, “Shmom,” and the nickname stuck ever since. The team name, Shmiles for Shmom, is arranged in the shape of an Angora goat. My mom has been raising angora goats for a little over 10 years now. She is known by friends and family as “the goat lady.”

How many people will be participating with the team ? Will you be doing something special like team t-shirts, signs,etc.?

Right now, Shmiles for Shmom has about 35 members, but I am expecting numbers around 50. We are doing team shirts with the Shmiles for Shmom goat design. I am also putting together a barbeque afterwards for the team to come and visit a little more with each other.

Anything else you would like to add?

The team and the walk/run are both surprises for my mom.

Team Spotlight: First UUS

Amy Jahns — Mon, 20 May 2013 02:08:35 +0000

First UUS is the First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee team. (The two U’s stand for Unitarian Universalist, but also for US!) Three of us in our congregation are ovarian cancer survivors. I am trying to enlist more church members to join my team, but it’s open to other friends as well. One of my sailing buddies who lives in Madison is joining our team. Today there are six members registered, and I hope we’ll have more than 10.

Sally Heuer

One of the other survivors from our church volunteers along with me in the Survivors Teaching Students program. About every six weeks, we speak to medical students at Sinai and Froedert about symptoms and our experiences. This helps them be more aware of the subtle signs that could mean ovarian cancer. This program has been really helpful to me for three reasons: knowing that we are helping to educate future doctors, getting to know other survivors quite well, and it’s helped me with healing to be able to share my story. Each one of us has a unique experience.

My husband Steve & I have done Laura’s Smile Mile walk the past two years. We are so grateful for the support from Wisconsin Ovarian Cancer Alliance (WOCA) that we wanted to raise more funds and awareness by having a team. We don’t plan to have T-shirts made, but we’ll have a sign and some flags to mark our meeting area.

Team Spotlight: Evelyn’s Team

Amy Jahns — Mon, 20 May 2013 01:49:51 +0000

Evelyn’s family. Evelyn is sitting in the chair.

My name is Linda Fixel and I am one of three daughters of Evelyn Neu. My two older sisters are Marlene Lemminger and Dianne Obermann.

Our mother has been a great inspiration to us and has always been a fighter. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in her early 50′s and fought hard when the chemo made her extremely ill. She was able to go into remission for 18 years before being diagnosed with cancer in her second breast. Due to early screening she was able to fight the bilateral cancer with radiation treatments. Six months after finishing radiation she found out she had stage 4 ovarian cancer. After a MAJOR surgery, she has endured 2 years of various chemotherapy treatments to continue fighting this disease. We created this team of all family to show our continued love and support of her and help your cause for better education, diagnoses and treatment of this very aggressive illness.

There are 19 family members, daughter and husbands, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, yes three generations, standing behind Evelyn on this journey. We can never really feel her pain but we try to to hold her hand every step of the way and bring her some joy on never ending battle.

We will be wearing the Laura’s Smile Mile t-shirts because although we did not know her personally, we know her journey was one of much HOPE, something that is difficult to sometimes hold on to. We will have a banner in Evelyn honor.

Team Spotlight: Tracey’s Troop

Amy Jahns — Mon, 13 May 2013 01:42:04 +0000

My name is Amanda Robinette and I am grew up in the Milwaukee area. I live in Chicago now and am currently a first year medical student at Midwestern University.

I will be running in the race with my sister Brooke in support of our mom. She was diagnosed almost exactly 5 years ago with stage 2c ovarian cancer. Since that time, she has had several recurrences and just recently had another major debulking surgery. It has been a long struggle for our family and that is exactly why my sister and I feel that this race is so important. We want to continue to raise awareness about this terrible disease.

We will be making tshirts and I am in the process of contacting family members to see if they would like to also participate.

I am very excited to run for a great cause. The reason that this disease is so deadly is because it is almost never detected before stage 3 cancer. If we can continue to make the public aware about its very common signs and symptoms, many lives could be saved in the future. I don’t want to have any more families have to go through the struggle that my family and many others face on a daily basis. This run is a great start :)

Thanks!

Team Spotlight: Team Orthopaedic Associates of WI

Amy Jahns — Mon, 13 May 2013 01:20:35 +0000

Tell us about yourself and why you created a team to run/walk Laura’s Smile Mile.

Team Orthopaedic Associates of WI was formed as one of our Physician Assistants – Michelle Filzen her sister Chrissy Kind an Occupational Therapist for ATI Physical Therapy (located next to us) mother, Barb Mihm is currently battling Ovarian Cancer. In addition, Michelle’s husband Nate was cousin to Laura who this race is named after.

What is the story behind the name your team?

We named our team after our company as the majority of people on our team are coworkers with Michelle and Chrissy. OAW in addition agreed to pay for all the registrations of employees and physicians to participate.

Thanks, Rachel!

Team Spotlight: Kickin Cancer in the Hein-ie

Amy Jahns — Tue, 07 May 2013 02:01:46 +0000

Captian Jenny Parker tells us why her team is kicking cancer’s hein-ie!

My husband, Jarad, and I are organizing our team for the Laura’s Smile Mile this summer. He found the website online while searching for ovarian cancer support events in Milwaukee. We are organizing our team to support my mother, Phyllis Hein, who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in September 2012. She had surgery in early October. There have been a few bumps in the road including an infection which required daily infusions for many weeks. Her strength, patience and flexibility throughout this journey have been absolutely amazing. We are so proud of her! We are happy and relieved to announce that we recently learned that she is officially in remission.

Our team name is “Kicking Cancer in the Hein-ie.” We thought this name was catchy. So far we have over 25 people committed to walking/running on June 1^stand hope to have over 35 participants once race day is here. We are designing a team shirt that we will all wear proudly to support her. We look forward to joining together as a large group to support education and research for ovarian cancer.

Team Spotlight: Inspired!

Amy Jahns — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 02:51:49 +0000

Last year we offered participants the opportunity to create teams. It was a success! In our first year we had 20 teams participate in Laura’s Smile Mile. We featured several of those teams on our blog. The teams shared amazing stories of memory, support and survival. Below, is a story from a new team in 2013 that can “Inspire” us all.

Team Captain Brenda Vogds says in an email to us…..

I was diagnosed in December 2003 with my Ovarian Cancer. Just 6 months after I was married to my high school sweetheart, Weston Vogds. It was the first week in December and I was out Christmas shopping on a Sunday afternoon when all of sudden I was keeled over in pain and had to sit down. It went away and I came home. I had suspected that I had endometriosis based off of conversations with some of the people I worked with and scheduled an appointment. That Wednesday, I went into the doctor and was put into surgery within hours. Not realizing at the time the severity of my case, I had told work I would be back on Monday! I was teaching high school at the time at Oconomowoc High School.

My doctor, Dr. Jill Wohlfeil, performed the surgery. I was fortunate enough to have a doctor that didn’t mess around, and in retrospect, saved my life. The following Monday I was made aware by a visit to her office that the ovary that they had removed, was cancerous and that I would have to determine what route I wanted to take for care. After conversations with an on-site doctor and one down at Froedtert Memorial Hospital, I began preparations for my chemotherapy. I was scheduled into four week long treatment cycles, three weeks apart. Dr. David Boruta II, who is now practising out in Massachusetts, was my doctor. The next five months were a complete blur and by the end of April in 2004, I was bald and tired, but I was alive. I had one of the strongest support systems available; my father spent everyday with me at the hospital (my mother was there too but was still working full time and supporting her mother through her cancer treatments), my friend Sarah studied for her tests from my bedside, my friend Cara took over all of work responsibilities, my brothers, sister’s in law and friends threw me a “early New Year’s” party because I was going to spend the “real” New Year’s in the hospital. My nights were always buzzing with millions of family and friends and refrigerator always stocked thanks to my friends at OHS! Most importantly, my soul mate and husband (of just 6 months at the time) told me I was beautiful when I had no hair, snuggled me on nights I would cry myself to sleep and always assured me “we” would make it through.

Being only 25 years old, I still had hopes that I would be able to have a family, at the time, there was a very glimpse possibility that I would be able to. In 2005, I completed my Master’s Degree in Instructional Technology and finally in 2007, we were blessed with our first child, Sullivan. In the summer of 2008, I began my PhD at Cardinal Stritch University in Leadership for the Advancement of Learning and Service in Higher Education. I was blessed with a second son in May of 2010 and am currently ABD, working on finishing my dissertation in Personalized Learning.I worked in various roles throughout my career in education; a teacher, a grant writer, a university instructor, a technology coordinator and in the last three year, as a principal in both Wisconsin and Minnesota.

This year is sort of a “BIG” one for me, as I am celebrating my 10th year married, turning 35 and celebrating my 10th year “cancer” free. Today, I view my journey through cancer as my greatest time of personal growth. Often times, I remind people that “Life is about perspective”. I feel this statement is one that reins true through all of life’s obstacles. Not many people are given their “life changing moment” at a young age, and while I will never understand why I was so “lucky”, I now know I am truly blessed for it.”

“We decided to create a team when I was asked if I would speak at this year’s Laura’s Smile Mile.

The team will be compiled of family and friends that I have had in my life. We decided to go with “Inspired” because while, I am the cancer survivor, all of us have had some type of “life changing experience” which has inspired us in different ways. We have done the Lakewalk for Cancer in Oconomowoc in the past, however, this last year, my family moved to Minnesota so we didn’t organize a team. The pictures I have attached are from that experience. At the time of that last walk, I was pregnant with our second son.”

Thank you, Brenda for sharing your story.