Special
Events - Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend
January, 2006
Remembering Cathy Whitaker—Wife, Mother, Grandmother, Sister, Friend 1948–2001
By Lisa Young
On January 7, I ran the Walt Disney World Half-Marathon, a 13.1-mile race through EPCOT and the Magic Kingdom. The following day, I ran the full marathon, 26.2 miles through EPCOT, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Disney-MGM Studios. In all, 39.3 miles in two days called the Goofy’s Race-and-a-Half Challenge. I ran it all in memory of my mom, Cathy Whitaker, who died from primary pulmonary hypertension on January 5, 2001, less than a month after turning 52 years old. I had decided it was time to do something big for my mom, my hero. In the process, $9,516 was raised from friends and family for the Pulmonary Hypertension Association.
Truth be told, mom would have thought I was crazy and would have told me not to do this. She never wanted to call attention to herself; she was the one in the background who held us together. Running was foreign to her and she never understood my love of all things Disney (once telling me that Mickey Mouse wasn’t real!). She obviously just didn’t understand. It’s okay, though. Mom deserved the attention. She suffered with PH for many years, enduring the drugs and their side effects, dealing with doctors and many tests. She did this while keeping her sense of humor and her love of family and friends intact. She was and will always be the bravest person I know. Running 39.3 miles hurt, but it was a temporary hurt that went away in two days. Mom hurt for many more days, even years. Calling attention to her disease and raising money to help diagnose and prevent this disease was a humbling, life-changing experience for me. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
