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Cancer benefit includes 5K race
Awareness event slated for Nov. 26
By kristine gill
youngstown
A benefit will be Nov. 26 for Mark Welton, a 51-year-old Grove City, Pa., resident who died of colon cancer in July.
His brother-in-law, Floyd McCluskey, is organizing the event from 7 to 9 p.m. at The Lemon Grove Caf , 122 W. Federal St., in downtown Youngstown.
McCluskey said Welton had been married for 30 years, loved his family and was a true gentleman.
“He would do just about anything for anyone,” McCluskey said. “He was very free-spirited and very involved with his church.”
Welton battled colon cancer for about 18 months before he died.
A $5 cover charge at the door will be donated to the Colon Cancer Coalition, a national group that raises awareness of the disease.
Anne Carlson-Davis, the organization’s executive director, said it started when the founder and president lost her sister to colon cancer at a young age, leaving two children behind.
“Colon cancer is the most preventable, treatable cancer out there,” Carlson-Davis said. “The founder wanted to say, ‘Get up, get active, get off the couch and do something.’”
The group’s signature event is a 5K race, which gets participants up and moving. Seventy-five percent of the money raised at such races goes back to the community in the form of a grant, Carlson-Davis said.
The group’s other goal is to spread awareness about leading healthy lifestyles and getting screened for colon cancer.
“We want people talking about it at the dinner table and not making it so taboo,” Carlson-Davis said.
At the Nov. 26 benefit, Artists Courtney Waskin and Shiloh Hawkins will sing and play guitar followed by a folk-rock band called Yellow Lady Slipper.
The Colon Cancer Coalition works with community members looking to have benefits and raise awareness through other events across the country.
Learn more about the Colon Cancer Coalition by visiting its website www.getyourrearingear.com.