On Oct.28, Wesleyan athletes participated in a 5K race for an organization called Scott Schoenthal’s Circle of Love.
This organization was created in honor of a man named Scott Schoenthal. Schoenthal was first diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a type of cancer, when he was 18-years-old. Fortunately, he recovered from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and moved to Texas when he was 21-years-old. Three years later, cancer returned to attack his body, but this time it was Testicular Cancer.
Schoenthal battled testicular cancer for several years. During his illness, Schoenthal ran a 5K race to show others he was not ready to give up. After years of fighting, Schoenthal passed away on May 18, 2017. In the midst of everything, Schoenthal was surrounded by his family and friends, his circle of love.
Strength and Conditioning coach Dustin Wolf was a very close friend of Schoenthal’s and he is currently associated with this organization. Wolf said, “We first started a GoFundMe to help his family, but after he passed away, we created a charity to help all the local families suffering from cancer.”
This year was the first 5K race event for this charity. All the donations of this event benefited an 18-year-old girl who was diagnosed with cancer. Wolf encouraged Wesleyan athletes to sign up for the race and he gave them a treat for racing; “The athletes that signed up for the race, and completed the 5K by walking, running, skipping or crawling, will take the following week off from workouts.”
Several athletes from Wesleyan showed up to race on Sunday morning to support this organization. Senior cheerleader Ansley Harper said, “I thought that it was a great opportunity for all the cheerleaders to support Coach Wolf and the cure for cancer as it has affected his family and friends.”
Some Wesleyan athletes have had family members affected by cancer and decided this was a great way to demonstrate their support towards this cause. Junior cheerleader Aubrey DeAugustinis said, “my mother suffered from cancer.” Harper said, “My aunt and one of my friend’s mom had cancer and are both survivors, so I think its super important to support the cause whenever possible.”
Sophomore Alyssa Phillip encourages the school community to be involved in activities like these to raise awareness on cancer; “We can not understand the pain the people with cancer are going through but donating our money and running the race is our way of helping these people and showing them that we care.” DeAugustinis said, “It is important to be involved in activities such as this to raise money and awareness for the cause.”
Harper said, “Activities such as these are important because they bring the community together to support something bigger than themselves.”
Wolf motivates the school to support this organization. The organization can be found on Facebook as “Scott Schoenthal’s Circle of Love.” Wolf said, “This is a easy way to keep up with the next event or to see how the charity is helping local families on a continual basis.”
