First of all, let’s give a global round of applause to everyone that took part in the Wings for Life World Run this year. It’s the world’s largest running event and every penny raised goes to research and treatment of spinal cord injury. It can be absolutely devastating, but with fundraising and the help of modern digital technology, medical professionals are making big progress in treatment and the search for a cure.
Now the dust has settled, the blisters have healed and the muscles stopped aching, it’s time to sit back and take a look at what Team Hexagon managed to achieve this year. We love the Wings for Life run, there is no other event that unites so many people at the same time, all over the world and this year was no different.
Heroic Team Hexagon was comprised of 133 runners from 26 countries, employees, friends and family. Every single one of you deserves a medal! The team raised €3,771.54 in entrance fees plus another €681.00 in additional donations, to which Hexagon added €3990.00 making the grand total raised was an incredible €8,442.54
Wings for Life is a team event, and while the big picture is important, it’s actually a mosaic composed of many individual achievements.
One of those stories comes from Emily O’Dea, senior manager of service operations, Michigan. She achieved an astonishing distance of 27.94km, much of it in the rain!
Going the distance to make a difference – Emily O’Dea was the highest achieving woman in Team Hexagon.
We asked her for a comment and here’s what she had to say:
Running is therapy. Whenever I feel upset, frustrated or down, if I go out on a run, mentally I feel so much better afterwards. Wings for Life really enforces how lucky I am to be able to do that. Unfortunately, not everyone has this opportunity.
The world run is one of my favorite events to participate in. Even though I was running alone, I felt the presence of all the runners out there doing their best for such a worthy cause. It really does give a mental boost knowing that participation in the event is not for personal goals but that it has an impact on others by raising funds for research so that hopefully people who are unable to run today will be able tomorrow.
This year, I ran the virtual race in my hometown in Michigan, on the same path as the 2 previous years. Mother nature wasn’t so cooperative this time as a storm blew in halfway through the race. Running in thunder, lightning and heavy rain probably isn’t the smartest move, but putting it in perspective it was a small obstacle compared to the major obstacles that people with spinal cord injuries have to go through every day.
Unstoppable – congratulations to Emily and everyone else on the team
Read more about the individual members of Team Hexagon here and for more info about the great work of Wings for Life, visit their website.
