Marathon runner to make monumental strides to help kids with cancer

INDIANAPOLIS – Eric Metz views his participation in the 2010 Indianapolis Monumental Marathon more than just a challenge. It’s his personal declaration of war against childhood cancer.

The former Northwestern High School (Howard Co.) football player was diagnosed in 2007 as having non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. His subsequent treatment at Riley Hospital for Children and what he has observed there as a patient stirred in him a call to action when he learned about this year’s IMM event, whose title sponsor is St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers.

The now 20-year-old Metz is organizing a team under the moniker “Team Metz” with the goal of raising funds to assist Riley patients and to support the work of oncology and hematology physicians at that hospital.

“Our goal is to do all it can within its means to make those children's treatments more tolerable and successful for them and their families,” Metz said.

Metz plans to run in the half-marathon event (13.1 miles), which is part of the overall marathon (26.2 miles) and 5K race through Downtown Indianapolis Saturday Nov. 6. All courses will begin near Washington and West streets and finish on Robert D. Orr Drive to the finish line, just steps away from the Indiana State Capitol building.

The urban courses are sanctioned and certified by the standards of USA Track and Field, the national body of road racing, with the marathon course serving as a qualifier for the 2011 Boston Marathon.

St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers continues in its role as title sponsor of the IMM, which it has done since the 2008 inaugural race. Jeff Peterson, M.D., leads a medical team of nearly 100 physicians, nurses, physical therapists and trainers. St. Francis volunteers also help runners and assist in a variety of ways.

Several lndianapolis-area educational institutions will get a leg up on their programs. The IMM donates its proceeds to those organizations. Last year’s donations exceeded $51,000.

To learn more about “Team Metz,” go to http://www.ericmetzwinthisbattle.org/

To register for the IMM go to http://monumentalmarathon.com.

More information about the St. Francis Sports Medicine program is at www.stfrancishospitals.org/Ortho/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabindex=4&tabid=54.