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MEMBER spotlight |
Running for Christopher
Craig F. Zellers
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| Mike Harmon relaxes with his sons Christopher, now 4 (left), and Sean, 3. |
It was at the 18-mile mark of a 26.2-mile marathon that Mike Harmon began to question his own sanity.
Here he was, a 6-foot-1, 260-pound man, running the Mayor’s Midnight Marathon in Alaska with 3,900 other runners. And when Harmon hit the proverbial “wall” during his first marathon, his inner voice asked loudly, “What the hell is wrong with me? I’m a fat guy trying to run a marathon!”
But thoughts of Christopher kept him moving forward.
The marathon had started out pleasantly and enjoyably enough, at least for the first few miles. But by the fifth mile, the task had become the toughest challenge that Harmon, a 12-year GCSAA member and the former superintendent at Moorpark (Calif.) Country Club, had ever faced.
Still, thoughts of Christopher kept him moving forward.
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| Michael J. Harmon Land development manager, Toll Brothers Inc. Moorpark, Calif. Years as a GCSAA member: 12 |
Harmon, now the land development manager for Toll Brothers Inc., the company that owns Moorpark CC, knew he was in for a challenge. A steady rain had begun to wash away the mosquito repellant he had applied before the start of the race, inviting Alaska’s “bird-sized” insects to feast on Harmon’s sore and beaten body. The trails began to turn into mud. His swollen feet quickly turned wet and blistered, preventing him from running any farther.
Again, thoughts of Christopher kept him moving onward.
In pain, one slow step at a time, Harmon began to walk toward the finish line. He knew it would be a battle to finish the race, but he also knew that his battle was nothing compared to the one his 3-year-old son Christopher was fighting against leukemia. Constantly, he reminded himself that his sick child was his inspiration for being there.
Inside, he told himself that the suffering his son was experiencing at home could be overcome with 8.2 more miles of pain on his part. He wasn’t sure that eight months of intense chemotherapy would cure Christopher of his illness.
Dealing with bad news
In September of 2004, the Harmon family learned the news that Christopher had been diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia. Harmon and his wife, Mary, were devastated for days. It seemed that when one of them was down, the other was up, helping them get through the ordeal.
The toughest part for both parents was walking into the hospital and seeing Christopher lying in a bed with IV tubes sticking out of his arms. He was forced to lie still for hours at a time as the chemotherapy treatments were administered. Harmon says he felt powerless against the daunting disease. “The disease is in control, and the treatment for the disease is almost as bad as the disease itself,” he says. “If leukemia were a person, you would want to punch it in the nose.”
Running for a cure
At the time Christopher was diagnosed, Harmon had been running up to five miles a day, three times a week. Shortly thereafter, the local chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society informed him that Christopher had been chosen as an honorary teammate for Team in Training, a charitable wing of that society that raises funds for leukemia and lymphoma research through running, biking and triathlons.
Harmon went to a few of the meetings and was deeply moved by the emotional stories from children, parents and survivors of leukemia. And when a Team in Training coach saw him running near his home in Thousand Oaks, Calif., he approached Harmon and informed him he could help raise funds for leukemia research by obtaining sponsors and running in a marathon. Harmon quickly signed on.
“I wanted to do something that may prevent this from happening to someone else,” he says.
Harmon enlisted the help of his mother-in-law, Anne Lipari, and college friend Miguel Valencia to help raise funds and join him in the marathon. Team in Training provided coaching and training for the entire 18-week period leading up to the marathon, and also paid for the entry fee and helped with transportation to the site of the marathon. In Harmon’s case, he had his choice of two marathons — one in nearby San Diego, the other in Anchorage, Alaska. He didn’t have to go all the way to Alaska for his first marathon, but decided the scenic beauty that trip offered outweighed the proximity of San Diego (about a three-hour drive from his home). Harmon laughs about it now, but after signing up, he learned the Alaska race is considered the third-toughest marathon in the world by Runner’s World magazine.
Reaching big numbers
As a fund-raising goal, each runner aims to raise $5,000 in sponsorships. Harmon raised more than $6,900 on his own. Toll Brothers offered great support, both emotionally and financially, for Harmon and his family. At the same time, Valencia brought in $4,400, while Lipari came in with a whopping $10,000 dollars in support.
Lipari walked the marathon route in just over eight hours and is still excited to talk about her blistering place towards the end. She feels proud to have raised the money and been a part of the effort, saying, “It’s not often that a mother-in-law and son-in-law participate in a marathon together.”
Despite the rain, the mosquitoes and his dwindling physical strength, Harmon finished the marathon in a time of 6 hours, 12 minutes. He broke into tears as one of the volunteers helped him in the finisher’s zone. Surprised at the tears, the volunteer asked him if he was OK. Harmon answered yes, then told the volunteer about Christopher. The volunteer handed him a banana, a chair and told him he was a hero and that Christopher would be very proud of him someday. It was one of the proudest moments of Harmon’s life.
Harmon says the marathon was the biggest physical challenge of his life, but it pales in comparison with the fight Christopher is currently winning over leukemia. Christopher’s leukemia has been in remission for a little over a year, and he remains in a maintenance treatment program. He turns 5 next month.
“We’re reluctant to call him ‘cured’ because they don’t say that until you go five years with no symptoms,” Harmon says. “But he’s doing very well. He has one more year of chemotherapy.”
As for all the running, Harmon hasn’t stopped. He’s signed up to run in the San Diego Rock ’N’ Roll Marathon in June.
When his son asks, “Daddy, why you wanna run so much,” Harmon says his answer is, “Daddy is running for you, Christopher.”
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