Bret Wilson will be running for a lot today.
He’ll be running to remember his daughter Erin, lost to cancer at age 12. And he’ll be raising money — a lot of money — for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
Wilson, 49, of Overland Park will compete in the Phoenix Rock ’N’ Roll Marathon, his fifth endurance event in five months to raise a total of $51,000.
Wilson is part of the leukemia society’s Team in Training program, which helps about 39,000 athletes a year train for society fundraisers.
The average Team in Training participant raises about $3,500, said Andrea Greif, a spokeswoman for the society, based in White Plains, N.Y.
“It’s rare for people to raise as much as Bret — it’s really incredible,” she said. “Only a handful a year, maybe five, raise that much.”
To reach his $50,000 goal, Wilson, a lawyer with H&R Block, has been soliciting hard and running hard.
“It was an outrageous goal, and I knew I would have to do something outrageous,” he said. He did a 100-mile bike ride in Wichita Falls, Texas, in August; a half-Iron Man Marathon in Oklahoma City in September; and a marathon in Minneapolis and a half-marathon in Kansas City in October.
Wilson asked everyone he knew for donations, including lawyers involved in litigation with H&R Block. Once Wilson finished a deposition, he’d ask for a business card — and then immediately follow up with a solicitation letter.
The idea of running marathons came from Wilson’s younger sister, Myra Svoboda of Raymore, who ran one first.
Wilson lost 50 pounds and developed new friendships.
“Now, looking back, I see how much it has done for me,” he said.
One thing that surprises Wilson about his Team in Training group is that he’s the only one who has been personally touched by cancer. His daughter lost her fight against leukemia in August 2002.
“They are just doing it; that really impresses me,” Wilson said of his fellow runners. “They don’t have a history to motivate them.”
The money Wilson has raised will become a grant for a researcher at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center at the University of Washington, one of the two places his daughter received a bone marrow transplant.
Wilson and his wife, Christy, a financial analyst at Hallmark Cards Inc., also have established a foundation to give financial help to families facing cancer.
Wilson said his family received tremendous support from relatives and friends.
“I thought the best way to thank them was to follow their example,” Wilson said.
“We know personally how they struggle,” Wilson said. “These are normal people facing extraordinary circumstances.”
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