SANDPOINT - Since 2001, an event called Jacey's Race has reached out to help 23 individual children and a host of organizations in the fight against childhood cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. The race first was held in Boulder, Colo., but moved to Sandpoint when Nanci Jenkins and her family arrived here about six years ago.

For Jenkins, it is a very personal race, though she is adamant that the fundraising event is about the children, their families and the small army of volunteers who help put it on each year. Jacey is her daughter, Jacelyn Ray Lawson, who just completed her freshman year at Sandpoint High School and now works with her mom to help other kids in need.

This year, the 5K race and 1K run/walk will be held on Sunday, July 10, starting at 8:30 a.m. from Sandpoint High School. As usual, there will be jumping castles and clowns, balloons and music - and several hundred people who turn out to lend their love and support to children they may not even know.

(Information about those helped by the race and online registration for this year's event can be found at: www.jaceys-race.com)

Ten years ago, however, before the first race event was mounted by a group of her closest friends, Nanci Jenkins felt entirely alone when she discovered a protrusion from her 4-year-old daughter's stomach. When it appeared to grow in size, she called her family physician, ignored the directive to come in two days later and camped out at the doctor's office until Jacey was sent to have an ultrasound. What that procedure revealed was a huge tumor growing inside of a very small child.

The doctor told her to take her daughter home, throw some things in a suitcase and wait for a call from Children's Hospital in Denver. That's where this story begins.

see JENKINS, C2

JENKINS

from C1

You were packed up and expecting a call from Children's Hospital - how did the news hit you when the call came through?

The first call came from a fellow, because it was a teaching hospital, and she said that there were several possibilities, all of which involved the "C" word. They said that if it was what they thought, it would be the kind of tumor that could double in size overnight. Then she listed all of these horrible things that could happen immediately and said they didn't want us to come in right away, because there wasn't anyone who could do anything until the morning. So we were supposed to stay home with that information all night.

I didn't sleep at all that night, just kept looking at the clock thinking, 'Let's go, let's go' until it was time to put her in the car seat and head to the hospital. It wasn't until we got there and they ran tests that we knew what she had.

People talk about feeling like they are in an information vacuum when it comes to cancer. Was that your experience?

Yes, and I was in the health care field, so I would have thought I would be more educated. But cancer never crossed my mind - she was 4 years old. I felt like I didn't know the language. The hardest part was that, initially, they didn't know, so they kept doing tests. They would come and predict something and everything was kind of bright at the beginning. You know: 'We'll remove the tumor and our prognosis will be good.' It seemed like every time they did something it was, 'Oh, it's not just that' or 'Oh, it has spread.' It just kept getting worse and I finally said, 'Don't predict any more - let's just deal with what we have.' From there, I spent as much time as I could trying to get educated so that I could at least participate.

At this point, based on your own experience with Jacey and all of the kids who have been helped through the race over the years, you must be something of an expert, aren't you?

Yes and no. I remember that I kept asking questions of other doctors, as well as her oncologist and finally my pediatrician said, 'Can we just get her through this summer?

Can we just do what has to be done right now?' And that's when I think things changed for me and I decided that I'm not the expert. I needed to let the people who do this day in and day out guide me. From there, as soon as she was done with certain things, we just kept focusing forward. In some ways, it has been very hard to carry the race on - here we are 10 years later - because childhood cancer and life-threatening illnesses are still very much a part of our world, which, back then, wasn't my intent. I totally expected to leave that behind.

But it is in the past for her, at least at this stage of her life, so we're just trying to help other kids get there.

When your friends came up with the idea for a race, were you relieved to have something concrete to work on that didn't involve being in a hospital?

Yes, but it was more like, 'Yay, you have something to do now!' Because they wanted to help and I didn't know how to have them help at all. I had no idea of the impact it would have. I get emotional now even thinking about it, because she was so sick. She was diagnosed in March and the first race event was in August, so she had been beaten badly. She had no hair, she was so thin and she was really sick. Her prognosis was not good and the doctors said she might not make it to the race.

I remember the night before, she had been up all night throwing up. The next morning I told her we weren't going to be able to make it and she started crying and said, 'I have to go to my race!' At that point, I just thought, OK - whatever you need.

We got there and it was amazing. The kids just surrounded her. One of my friends bought her this little tiara, so there she was with this tiara on her bald head and the kids didn't care that she had no hair and she looked awful. They just held her hand and brought all that love and support. I looked around at all of these people - there were 400 people there - and I thought, 'I don't even know you.' There they were with all of this love and energy and it gave me the strength to say, 'I can do this. There's a lot of help here and I can do this.'

For her, she came home from that with a future. It really felt like a turning point for us.

At what point did it become a different kind of turning point? When did you decide, as you describe it, to 'pass it forward?'

When she was done with treatment, it became about prevention. But all of the kids we met at the hospital made me think, 'Who's helping them?' As we've done the race year after year, I've come to believe that it's not about the money. The money's kind of nice and it helps a little, but it's really about the people and the positive energy and the love.

In subsequent years, when it was still Jacey's Race but no longer about Jacey, did you see similar reactions from other parents to the one you had that first year?

Yes, there are so many stories about so many families. In 2003, the first beneficiary was a little girl named Anna and her whole family had moved to Colorado from Mexico. When she got sick, they couldn't afford to stay, so they sent everyone back. The father was working in the states and sending the money back home to his family. We helped them set up a bank account, because they didn't have any of those skills yet.

Because of that, every year after that the entire family came from Mexico and worked their butts off for the race and the event. That was so moving to us, how they came together as a family to support their sibling. That happens a lot with childhood illness - families either grow closer or it's the last straw that makes them fall apart.

On a broader level, do you think the fight against childhood cancer and life-threatening illness has brought the community closer together?

Yes, absolutely. That's one of the really special things about Sandpoint. And we've been able to reach a little bit farther out, as well. We've had kids from Priest River and Rathdrum. Sandpoint hasn't had any problem about seeing them as neighbors, as family - as 'ours.' This is a uniquely special place in that way.

Do you think there is more childhood cancer these days, or has awareness simply been raised through events like this?

I don't know the answer, but I do know that I'm certainly more aware. At the time my daughter was diagnosed, I'd never even heard of it.

It never crossed my mind that it could happen.

We thought we would be done with the race when we moved here from Colorado.

When I started asking around to see who treated childhood cancer in this community, the doctors seemed uncomfortable with it, you know: 'It's not here.' And I thought, 'Well, it must be here, because it's everywhere and there are kids everywhere.' That's when we decided to start the race, to find out if there were kids here who needed more attention and resources.

Because of that, we ended up giving money to Cancer Care Services so that they could get a social worker for kids as part of their program and put more emphasis on children. The Kootenai Cancer Center at Bonner General Hospital got a little pediatric area with the money that we gave them the first year. So we did increase awareness and now it does seem quite visible.

The first Jacey's Race had 400 people - what does this year's event look like in terms of attendance and the money you expect to raise?

Well, the first race was held in Boulder, Colo., which is probably the health and running capitol of the world. So 400 people in Boulder is a lot different than 400 people in Sandpoint, because it's a much smaller community. We're shooting for 700 people at this year's race. That's what we'd like to see there in order to support all of these people who need help.

We probably bring in $25,000 in total, which we give to families and organizations. And that list keeps growing. The amount each person gets isn't that significant, but everybody gets a little something, which allows them to do a little something more this year that they weren't able to do last year. Our event isn't really about how much money we can raise; it's about how much good we can do.

There's a list of children's names that have been helped by the race and it's hard to see the word 'died' next to a couple of them. When that happens, does it rock your faith or strengthen your resolve?

We hadn't experienced that until last year, when we had two of our beneficiaries die. Childhood cancer is tough. It's hard and not all kids make it. We hope that we gave them something pleasurable in the time that they were finding it hard to have something enjoyable in their lives. We gave them a little sunshine and a day of play - an opportunity to be a kid. We try to make it very festive, with balloons and clowns, so they have a day that is kind of a bright spot.

It seems like the ultimate sign of success would be to see a day when there wouldn't have to be a Jacey's Race. Do you ever think in those terms?

Always. That's the goal. It would be great if this wasn't needed at all. I would love to see childhood cancer and life-threatening illness go away. You know, we don't think of children as being sick. We think of them as being healthy and well, happy and running around. But the kids who aren't blessed in that way need a little love, support and understanding. If the diseases go away, maybe Jacey's Race could just be a fun day, where people of all ages and walks of life in our community could come together and meet new people.

What is Jacey's role in all of this today?

She comes with me to meet all of the families. Her focus is the kids. She seems to really want to connect with the kids and make a difference for them. It's still called Jacey's Race, but when we think of it, we no longer think of her. She understands that she's quite fortunate and she worked hard to get where she is. It's not about her any more, but she is very moved that gets to continue to help others.

What else would you like people to know about the event?

One of the messages I'd like to get out is that the more people there, the better. Every single person who is there is making a difference in these kids' lives. It's free for kids 12 and under, so anyone who has a child should bring their child, because I think it's helpful for them to see that other kids get sick, but they can get better. Sometimes they don't, but while they're here, we need to do whatever we can to help them through that process. Kids who do that are the ones who go on to make a difference in the world. They grow into adults who 'get it.'

Date of birth: Jan. 11, 1961

Family: Husband, Ron

Children: Lindsay, Amy, Michael, Calena and Jacelyn

Education: Master of Science degree from Colorado State University

Number of hours on average you work in a week: I am semi-retired and do on-call consulting.

Number of hours on average you sleep in a night: 6-8

Hobbies: Reading, hiking, skiing, traveling, running

Favorite travel destination: New Zealand

Favorite movie: "Sound of Music"

Favorite book: "The Courage to Teach" by Parker J. Palmer and Bill Bryson's "A Short History on Nearly Everything"

Favorite type of music: Almost all. Love Nina Storey, India Arie, Keb Mo, Norah Jones, Bill Withers, Golden Earring, Scott Kirby...

Favorite spectator sport (or leisure activity): Girls Fastpitch Softball

Any one person who most influenced your life: Professionally, Professor Connie Geiger who inspired me to find a career that I loved. Personally, my parents, Kay and Gene. They worked hard yet they always made time to help others along the way. And of course my amazing husband who continues to work harder than anyone I've ever known yet is somehow always there for his family.

Quality you admire most in person: The ability to make a positive difference in someone's life.

Best advice you ever received: You must DO and not just TRY and then you can be successful.

Any one thing you would say is your greatest accomplishment: Of course my wonderful family and friends. Also running my own business for eight years.

Favorite quote: "A missed opportunity is an automatic failure" by my Organizational Communications Professor in college.

Historical figure you would most like to meet: Johanna Mansfield Sullivan. She came from an abusive family setting, was nearly blind by age 7, yet went on to graduate and teach the brilliant yet challenging student, Helen Keller.