Winning the Race – messenger-inquirer

Collecting monetary donations to support the MDA is only half of why the Livermore Womans Club's 5K Walk/Run race exists.

And on Saturday, the 5th annual 5K Walk/Run will again take place at 8 a.m. at the pavilion on Main Street on the riverfront.

The other half is fueled by 20-year-old Tessa Wilkerson of Livermore. She is the inspiration of the race.

McLean County has been Tessa's home for all of her life.

She's also had to live just as long with spinal muscular atrophy type 2 ever since she was first diagnosed with it at 18 months old. According to the National Institutes of Health, MSA type 2 is an inherited condition marked by progressively weakening muscles in children aged 6 to 12 months old that allows them to only sit without assistance.

While she's never let her condition define her, she's had to face some challenges that have come with it.

"The hardest time I had was when I was between the ages of like, probably 10 and 12. I had some major surgeries done then, and I didn't go to kindergarten until late. So those times were kind of hard, but it's kind of gotten easier the older that I've gotten," she said.

Her mother, Tiffany Wilkerson, said Tessa also has to sleep with a ventilator due to her respiratory system shutting down at the age of 6, which led to surgeries to help her breath again.

While Tessa was attending McLean County High School, her senior year was inching closer with each day that passed, and her mother was wondering how to approach the next stage of Tessa's life.

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"I kept calling the guidance counselor every year at the high school, because she kept telling us (college) was her path, and I kept asking (former McLean County High School Guidance Counselor Rhonda Spears), 'How are we going to do this?' Tiffany said.

Tiffany said she never told Tessa that she couldn't go to college, but she didn't know how it was going to be possible. But Tessa found a way and met with the disability director at Western Kentucky University during her senior year of high school.

When Tessa graduated from McLean County High School in 2015, she enrolled at WKU where she's living her college years to its fullest.

Tiffany said her daughter's been strong willed and determined while living with MSA type 2, and it's been amazing to see the drive in her.

"I think that determination drives what successes she's had in life," she said.

Tessa's currently in her sophomore year and studying social work in the hopes of becoming a family therapist after she graduates in December 2018.

"I want to be a family therapist and kind of like help kids who are diagnosed with muscular dystrophy - kind of help them with the process - because I really didn't have that growing up. I just want to be that person for them," she said.

While Tessa's hoping to help future generations with their conditions, she's excited that the 5K Walk/Run's donations are helping to fund possible treatments for current muscle dystrophy patients, such as the new FDA approved drug nusinersen, marketed as Spinraza, which gained approval in 2016 after test studies found that it increased motor functions in SMA patients that took the treatment.

"That's the reason why we have the 5K and different events like that, that are able to have this treatment offered for kids to take because of the money people donate," Tessa said.

The race is 3.1 miles long and will begin at the pavilion. Racers will then move past the tennis courts and the skate park, then move through the RV Park, and dash down Main Street's residential area where they'll finish right back at the pavilion.

The race is sponsored by the Livermore Womans Club, who has sponsored every 5K Walk/Run race since it began in 2013, and its purpose is to help support the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) through the proceeds that are gathered from the event.

But they're not the only organization that is sponsoring the program. MDA Committee Chairperson Ann Renfrow said the club has been going county-wide to find companies to help sponsor the race. So far, they've found between 30 - 35 sponsors that have given financial donations to the cause, and the same amount of sponsors that have donated door prizes that will be given out at the end of the race.

One such sponsor is Ford dealership B. F. Evans, who is sponsoring this year's 5K Walk/Run T-shirts, which will be provided to all racers who have registered on or before March 24.

"But financially speaking, everyone has just given,"Renfrow said. "It's been pretty amazing."

And given they have.

The donated goal amount for this year's 5K Walk/Run was set at $6,000, but Renfrow said the goal has already been surpassed, and the final tally won't be known until the day of the race because that's when most of the runners will register.

"So we'll probably have every bit of 130 runners/walkers, and then other people just want the T-shirts. They'll come out and support, and they'll be in their colors. So, I believe my last count was 205 total T-shirts, which included runners and just t-shirt purchasers," she said.

Another donation source that has helped the event reach its goal was the club's Lunch on Wheels program, which has already taken place twice this year. The program lets hungry patrons order meals from the club's members who cook the food and deliver it to their doors at $7 a meal.

Participants can sign up for the 5K Walk/Run by filing out a registration form at cityoflivermore.info/livermore_womans_club or by registering at the on-site location and paying the $25 entry fee between 7 to 8 a.m. on April 22. For more information about the event, contact Renfrow at 270-278-5253 or email her at jfrow@bellsouth.net.

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Winning the Race - messenger-inquirer