On Sunday morning, February 18, the Delta Alpha Chapter of Phi Sigma Pi National Honors Fraternity, hosted Karen’s 5K Run and 1 Mile Walk in the Gordon Field House on the Rochester Institute of Technology campus. There were two 5K races. A combined ‘hard mode’ and ‘medium mode’ competitive 5K race and an ‘easy mode’ competitive 5K race.
Rychwalski. Provided photo
This annual event began over 15 years ago when Karen Decker, a close friend of the fraternity, passed away tragically and unexpectedly on March 20, 2002, at age 22, from Postpartum Cardiomyopathy (PPCM) six weeks after giving birth to her daughter, Hannah.
PPCM is a rare disorder in which a weakened and damaged heart is diagnosed within the final month of pregnancy or within 5 months after delivery. It is a diagnosis of exclusion, wherein patients have no prior history of heart disease and there are no other known possible causes of heart failure. The cause of PPCM is unknown. A quarter to a third of PPCM patients are young women who have given birth for the first time.
In the beginning, Phi Sigma Pi created the Walk & Run for Hannah, meant to raise money toward a college fund for Hannah. The Walk & Run for Hannah subsequently became Karen’s 5K Run & 1 Mile Walk, and has since raised over $25,000 for the Blaxall Lab at the University of Rochester Medical Center. There, Burns Blaxall and his team research causes and possible treatments for all types of heart related diseases, including Cardiomyopathy.
Karen’s 5K Run & 1 Mile Walk is entirely student run. This year, students Michael Desimone and Caleb Katzenstein were its race directors, and helped raise approximately $2,000.
After the two 5K races and the 1 mile walk there was plenty of food and beverages and there were raffles with prizes awarded to many people.
Every runner and walker should put this event on their “to do” schedule for next year. It is fun and it raises money for a very worthy cause.
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