Fundraising Cancer Walk
Fundraising walk will rally support for teen with cancer
For nearly three years, Michael Downing has fought the cancer inside him, inspiring friends and family with his spirit and determination.
On Saturday, Fountain residents will honor the young man’s iron will by taking to the streets during Miles for Michael, a fundraising walk.
Bret Johnson, a curlyhaired 16-year-old who is the driving force behind Miles for Michael, is seeking to tap into what he calls Fountain’s hometown heart. “We are large enough to be a city,” he says, “yet still small enough to care for each other.”
The roughly 2.5-mile walk will begin at Fountain City Hall and end at Fountain-Fort Carson High School, where Michael graduated last spring. Bret, a junior at the school, has been a classmate of Micha- el’s younger sister, Ashley, since third grade and got to know Michael when they served together on student council.
Money raised by the walk will go toward Michael’s medical bills.
“We’ve ordered 500 T-shirts, so I’m hoping we get at least 500 people,” Bret says.
But he’s not worried about numbers.
“The biggest thing is that Michael just know that people are supporting him.”
That support is already evident, says Michael’s father, Tom Downing — with prayers, with meals prepared for the family, with visits from classmates.
“The community has been fantastic,” he says.
Michael was diagnosed in December 2003 with Ewing’s sarcoma, a type of bone cancer that’s most common in the early teenage years, after suffering pain in his right leg. Doctors found a large tumor in his pelvis.
“I thought it was growing pains,” says Michael, who grew 13 inches in one year. “The doctors kept saying it was growing pains.”
Michael, 18, has completed multiple rounds of chemotherapy and radiation and has undergone six surgeries to remove the tumor in his pelvis and tumors in his lungs. Last summer tumors were discovered in his chest cavity outside the lungs, a setback that derailed plans for him to attend Pikes Peak Community College this fall on a full-ride scholarship.
The Downings haven’t abandoned mainstream medicine — Michael is undergoing more chemotherapy, for example. But they’re increasingly turning to alternative therapies not covered by insurance, such as herbal supplements and treatments from a machine designed to energize the body’s cells.
“We’ve been really impressed with how he’s responded,” Tom Downing says.
Faith has been instrumental in sustaining the family during Michael’s battle, Downing says.
“People ask us all the time, are we mad at God that he hasn’t answered our prayers. God answers our prayers every day that we have with Michael.”
Michael says one of the toughest things for him has been giving up sports. Before he was diagnosed, he was active in football, wrestling and track and field. He got his football letterman jacket on the day he began chemotherapy.
Even after he was too weak to play football, he was there leading the team on the field, driving a golf cart that coach Mitch Johnson, Bret’s father, got fixed up with decals and flashing lights. Though he graduated, Michael still attends every home game, driving the cart around after touchdowns and doing his best to rally school spirit.
“Walk through Fountain in honor of a great kid that has touched lives,” posters for Miles for Michael say. Coach Johnson counts himself as one of those lives.
“Every day that we’re around Michael, he just teaches us volumes about courage. He’s an amazing young man.”
The route for Miles for Michael will take participants past Michael’s house, but don’t look for him to be sitting on the couch looking out. As always, he’ll be a part of things.
“I plan on going to City Hall and driving the pimpedout golf cart,” he says.
MILES FOR MICHAEL
WHAT:
Walk through Fountain
WHEN:
8:30 a.m. registration, walk begins at 9 a.m. Saturday
WHERE:
Walk starts at Fountain City Hall, 116 S. Main St., and ends at Fountain-Fort Carson High School
HOW IT RAISES MONEY:
Entry fee is $15 for adults, $10 for students or $25 for a family
WHERE THE MONEY GOES:
To help with Michael’s medical bills
TO REGISTER:
Preregistration packets are available at Fountain City Hall, Fountain-Fort Carson High School and Cowbells Gift and Gourmet, 117 S. Main St., Fountain or by e-mailing milesformichael@gmail.com.