Thousands run around Lincoln Financial Field to help fight cancer
Jack Bear
By STEPHANIE STAHL
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PHILADELPHIA (KYW) — Thousands of people will be at Lincoln Financial Field Saturday, not for football or a concert – but to help fight cancer.
The event is called The Big Climb. People will be climbing thousands of steps to help fight blood cancers leukemia and lymphoma.
Jack Bear, 8, is reaching into a new future, cancer free.
“It was a rough time,” he said.
He was diagnosed with leukemia when he was just 3 years old.
“It was very out of the blue,” mom Katie Bear said. “We thought we were going in for an ear infection something of that nature.”
Jack’s parents say their son endured years of grueling treatments.
“It was just so overwhelming because you don’t know how to feel or what to think,” dad Brad Bear said.
But now Jack and the family are stepping into a brighter future with Jack in remission.
“They fixed me,” he said.
The family will be back at the Linc for the annual big climb to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
“It’s something that gives us an opportunity to get together with our friends that supported us in so many ways during the toughest times,” Brad Bear said. “So it’s a celebration.”
More than $500,000 has been raised so far from the Big Climb.
“The money is going to go to better treatments and research as well as our patient services that we have for all of our patients,” said Lauren Iannucci with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
Iannucci says 1,500 people will be part of this year’s climb.
“They’re going to go up and down the seats, all the rows, all the way down to the field.”
While weaving around the stadium, participants will be climbing 2,000 steps.
“I think I’m going to have a fun time,” Jack said.
For Jack, who was part of the event last year, climbing steps is nothing compared to fighting cancer.
More information is available on the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s website: lls.org/big-climb
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