Annual event benefits Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center brain tumor research.
Friends and family of Marnie Rose, MD, will again honor her legacy with the seventh annual Run for the Rose, building on the success of last year's record-setting fund raiser.
To be held at Reliant Park, on Sunday, March 29, at 8 a.m., the run benefits pediatric initiatives at Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital and brain cancer research at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer. Last year's festivities raised $400,000, bringing the total funds generated for the two institutions to more than $1.2 million.
"It's amazing to stop and think what we have been able to accomplish in memory of Marnie over the past seven years," said Lanie Rose, Marnie's mother. "We are so grateful to the community for embracing this run.
"Marnie would have been so proud of the event's overwhelming success, the difference it has made in the medical community and the tradition the event has become in the city-at-large in just seven short years," Lanie Rose continued. "These successful events have continued Marnie's legacy and are making a difference in the two causes that touched her life so personally -- cancer and children."
According to the American Cancer Society, 17,000 men and women were diagnosed with a form of brain cancer in 2008, and more than 13,000 individuals died of their disease.
Rose was 27 and in the first year of her pediatric medical residency when she was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer. Rose agreed to share her cancer journey, personal life and professional duties as a medical resident with a TV crew from the ABC reality series "Houston Medical."
The critically-acclaimed hospital series followed the lives of doctors, nurses, other health care professionals and patients at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center. It aired nationally on the ABC for six weeks in summer 2002.
In the show's debut episode, Rose stunned viewers by pulling off her wig, revealing that she was both a doctor and a patient. Throughout the run of "Houston Medical," viewers were awed by her determination to work despite her illness, candor about her disease and her positive attitude.
Rose died Aug. 23, 2002, from complications due to her cancer, just five weeks after the show's final episode aired.
"Brain cancer robbed our daughter of her career, her mobility and then her life, but it never diminished her sense of humor, her spirit or her will to survive," Lanie Rose said. "We, in turn, will never stop searching for a cure nor will we ever forget the children so dear to her heart."
Run for the Rose is a certified 5K race/walk; other race-day activities include a 1K family walk and a post-race party on the floor of Reliant Center, for all participants. For interested runners, the 5K run will be chip-timed.
Awards will be given to male and female 5K participants who finish first overall, as well as to first through third place male and female finishers in specific-age categories. To be eligible for an award, participants must be chip timed and registered for the competitive 5K Run. All children will receive medals.
Registration for Run for the Rose is $30 per adult for the competitive run, $25 per adult for the noncompetitive run and walk, $15 for children ages 12 and under for the competitive run, and $12 for children ages 12 and under for the noncompetitive run and walk.