Photo courtesy of L’or Puymartin
By Hadley Montgomery
Executive Staff
On June 18, L’or Puymartin (C’17) embarks on a journey across the country. Although many people dream of driving the country’s width, over the course of 49 days, Puymartin, is running a 4K across the country through the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults. The mission of the Ulman Cancer Fund is to “change lives by creating a community of support for young adults, and their loved ones, impacted by cancer.”
Puymartin “saw the race on Instagram by coincidence, which said to run across the country for young adult cancer.” The post really caught her eye because of her diagnoses with cancer during her senior year of high school as well as her best friend’s mom died of cancer a few years ago. After seeing the post and further researching participation, Puymartin and her best friend applied, interviewed, and were accepted to complete the run.
Puymartin and 30 other people will embark on this journey as a relay team. Her adventure begins in San Francisco, California and ends in Baltimore, Maryland on August 5. Each day, they will run approximately three five-mile pieces. The runners have off days every four to six days each week in order to recover. Along with running the 4K, Puymartin is a leg leader. She communicates with the group and makes cold calls to hosts to reserve anything the runners may need along the course.
In order to participate in this amazing opportunity to reach out to the community, Puymartin is required to raise at least $4,500 for the Ulman Cancer Fund; however, her personal goal is to raise $10,000. All of the money raised during the run goes towards the “resources for the patients and families…from the moment when diagnosed to being treated and after the treatment.”
In order to achieve this goal, she is reaching out to everyone she knows. She has a fundraising site set up at Ulman.z2systems.com/Lor-puymartin. Along with raising money for the Ulman Cancer Fund, Puymartin is having a bone marrow registry drive on February 13 in McClurg during lunch hours. If you would like to help L’Or in her trek across the country, please visit her donation site or the bone marrow registry drive in McClurg.