Debbie Melton, right center, leads the charge at the 2015 Great Strides Walk.
The sixteenth annual “Great Strides: Walk Today. Add Tomorrows.” will be held Saturday, April 2. Cleveland business leader Debbie Melton will serve for a second year as chairperson for the Cleveland/Bradley 2016 Great Strides Walk and 65 Roses 5K road race for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
“We are thrilled that Debbie Melton has agreed to lead our Great Strides community effort for a second year,” said Dr. Paul Conn, president of Lee University. “She was such an effective and enjoyable person to work with. It’s easy to see why she is such a popular young leader in our community, and we at Lee look forward to working with her again this year.”
Lee University and a group of community volunteers sponsor the Cleveland Great Strides walk. Last year, over 450 runners and 200 walkers, 28 teams of walkers, individuals, companies, and volunteers raised over $74,000 locally to fund cystic fibrosis research. The CF Foundation uses Great Strides as its staple fundraising event to increase awareness.
“I am humbled and honored to be asked for a second term to be the community chair for Great Strides cystic fibrosis foundation,” said Ms. Melton. “My dad has always told me that you are rich if you have your health. Watching from the sidelines on how much effort and determination it takes for a person to live with this disease, I find my dad’s words of wisdom so surreal. I want to be a small part of supporting the efforts of all to find a cure for cystic fibrosis. My heart has been changed forever. God bless these children.”
CF is a genetic disease which damages and eventually destroys the lungs of its patients. The proceeds from Great Strides go directly to support research and drug development for those affected by the disease.
“We have had such an incredible past year for our cystic fibrosis community,” said Leigh Ellington, senior development director for the CF Foundation. “We saw the approval of a second drug, Orkambi, which will target the actual defect of the disease and allow nearly half of our population to control the progression of cystic fibrosis. It is our hope that these patients will enjoy many more tomorrows thanks to this breakthrough.”
Orkambi is an FDA-approved combination therapy for treatment of CF. It is a combination of Kalydeco and experimental therapy lumacaftor. The combination of these two molecules helps in correcting the mutating genes in patients with CF, treating the root cause of CF instead of treating the severity of symptoms, said officials.
“This would not be possible without the incredible generosity of our Great Strides participants and sponsors nationally and locally,” said Ms. Ellington. “We are unbelievably thankful to all of our Cleveland and Bradley County sponsors, team leaders, volunteers, donors, participants, and of course Lee University for supporting Great Strides. Great progress has been made, but we will not rest until we find the cure, so please join us at Great Strides this year."
Mike Hayes, vice president for student development at Lee, and Vanessa Hammond, CF parent and director of the office of grants at Lee, will serve alongside Ms. Melton. Dr. Bill Estes, dean of Lee’s Helen DeVos College of Education, will direct the 5K road race. Volunteer support will be provided by the Student Leadership Council at Lee.
Registration will begin at 7 a.m. on April 2 in front of the Lee University Student Union. The 5K road race is scheduled for an 8:30 a.m. start, and the walk will begin at 10 a.m. The route starts on Lee’s campus and continues through downtown Cleveland and the historic Ocoee Street area.
Anyone can participate in the walk or race. To learn more about the event and to register, visit the local event website at www.leeuniversity.edu/greatstrides. For more information about the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation team opportunities for Great Strides, contact Leigh Ellington at lellington@cff.org.