One family is planning a special sort of family reunion in honor of their mother. The Cumberland County family will walk and run in honor of Kathryn Hartman, 87, in the 2018 Paint the Town 5k on Saturday, October 13.
Hartman raised seven children and spent many years caring for her disabled husband before she was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2017. After Hartman’s diagnosis, her children wanted to support the woman who had taken care of them their entire lives. “She has always been the rock we could rely on and the glue that kept our family together,” Hartman’s daughter, Peggy Sims said. “She is the first to help out in any situation and always there to listen to our problems, even if hers are a thousand times worse.”
Sims said that Hartman has had several bumps in the road during her healing process including blood clots, but Sims says Hartman is like the Energizer Bunny. “She keeps going and going, always with a smile on her face.”
Hartman and her family will put that energy to work in the non-competitive Paint the Town 5k for cancer awareness. “Dr. Shakir (Medical Oncologist Abdur Shakir, MD) and the nursing staff [at the SBL Regional Cancer Center] have been amazing to my Mama,” Sims said. “They have never pressured her to do anything out of her comfort zone, and when she has been admitted, the nursing staff has always gone out of its way to make sure she is comfortable and well taken care of. We’re participating in Paint the Town because we want to give back a small portion of the love and caring that Sarah Bush Lincoln has shown our Mama.”
The 2018 Paint the Town 5k will kick-off at 8 a.m. on October 13 with a pre-run party on Broadway Avenue in Mattoon between 19th and 21st Streets. The party will include yoga with Aubrey Crozier, dynamic warm-ups with the trainers from the SBL Center for Healthy Living, face painting and a special balloon release in honor of those who have fought cancer.
The color run starts at 9 a.m. and volunteers will toss powdered paint on participants as they pass by. There will be a free post-run party for participants and their families that will include bounce houses, free food and a performance by Nashville recording artist, Garrett Biggs. Online registration is available until October 11th at www.sarahbush.org. People can also register in person at KC Summers the day of the run.