Man getting physical with fight against breast cancer
CHAMPAIGN – First, Terence Fitzgerald's mother had breast cancer.
Then his close friend was diagnosed with it last year.
Then he saw a program on TV about a breast cancer treatment center closing.
That did it. Fitzgerald, the special education and achievement coordinator for Champaign schools, decided he just had to do something crazy to get more people to pay attention to breast cancer and the suffering it causes women.
And what crazy thing does a guy choose when Evil Knievel was his childhood hero?
Starting at 11:30 p.m. Oct. 23, Fitzgerald will attempt to set a new world record for a marathon of physical activities exemplifying strength and endurance.
Terence Fitzgerald, who will be trying to set a world record for a marathon of physical activities exemplifying strength and endurance starting on Oct. 23, talks in his office earlier this month at the Champaign Schools Family Information Center. By Vanda Bidwell
He'll try to complete 300,000 pounds of weight-lifting for the upper body, 100,000 pounds of leg work, a 15-mile run, 25 miles of elliptical work, a 120-mile bike ride, a 15-mile walk with a 30-pound pack, 2,000 crunches and 2 miles of stationary rowing – all in 19 hours.
He plans to begin his quest at the fitness center where he's been training, Refinery, in Champaign, and end the following evening with walking on the track at the High School of St. Thomas More to take part in Provena Covenant Medical Center's Health Walk.
Participants in the four-hour Health Walk are raising money for Covenant's Sister Mary Gabriel Curby Endowment fund, which provides access to health care, and the St. Vincent de Paul Society to help feed the needy, says Lauren Giovagnoli, major gifts officer for the Provena Covenant Foundation. The donations raised by Fitzgerald will go to Covenant to help raise awareness and provide services related to breast cancer, focusing on underserved women in the Champaign-Urbana area.
Fitzgerald is a graduate of Champaign Centennial High School and the University of Illinois. He holds a master's degree in social work and a doctorate in educational policy, both from the UI, and is the author of "White Prescriptions? Black Males and the Dangerous Social Potential of Ritalin and Other Psychotropic Drugs." His work for Champaign schools focuses on issues and policies related to gender and racial equality.
Fitzgerald said he started training last summer while doing research for his next book. He's since torn his left pectoral muscle, and knows his 19-hour endeavor is going to hurt, he says, but "I'm going to go for it."
Fitzgerald originally planned to try to break an existing record for a long stint of physical endurance activities. But he abandoned that idea after he learned it would involve some swimming – not something he can do without a floatie, he says – and designed his own course to set a new world record.
He also checked into what it would take to get an official Guinness World Records adjudicator on site, but decided he didn't want to foot the travel and accommodations costs for a Guinness representative when he's trying to raise money for breast cancer patients.
Fitzgerald plans to use his own record-keeper and send the evidence to Guinness if he's successful – but getting his name in a record book doesn't really matter to him, he says. This is all about shining the spotlight on women who have suffered and died from breast cancer.
"I felt this obligation as a man and a citizen of the world to do something," he says.
For information about how to donate to Fitzgerald's fundraising effort, see this Web site: www.provena.org/covenant/terence.
If you go
The Provena Covenant Medical Center Health Walk will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. Oct. 24 on the track of the High School of St. Thomas More, Champaign.
The event will include food, a disc jockey, music, games and activities for children and free water and apples for the public.
Money raised will stay in the community to support health care and food for the needy.
To sign up or donate, call 337-4713 or see the Web site at www.Provena.org/covenant/healthwalk.
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