(KCPW-August 21, 2013) Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker and State Senator Todd Weiler honored runner Landon Cooper Wednesday for recently completing a 3,000 mile run. Cooper was running to raise awareness for sarcoma cancer.
Cooper was running for the Utah-based non-profit organization Miles 2 Give. He was initially affected by a friend’s struggle with sarcoma cancer.
“When I met her in late 2009, I got to see everything unfold in front of my eyes in very close proximity,” he says.
Wanting to show support for his friend, Cooper decided to run.
“About three months after she was diagnosed, I grabbed about three guys, and we ran a race for her. It was just to show support. I had no idea what sarcoma was,” Cooper says.
“So then that’s when completely doing something I love for somebody else started. There were actually five or six people who were affected by the same cancer,” Cooper says. So, it was a great awakening to not only create this platform of connectivity with all these families, but to really fulfill a lot of peace for a lot of people that are struggling with it.”
This year, Cooper led a team of three other runners across the country, starting on February 14th in San Francisco, and ending on July 20th in Ocean City, Maryland. Each day of the run was dedicated to a person affected by sarcoma. One day was dedicated to Woods Cross resident Marshall Jensen. The runners were able to raise their goal of one hundred thousand dollars.
According to Miles2Give.org, sarcoma cancer affects 12,000 Americans every year. It is prevalent among children and young adults, and long term survival rates have been stuck at 60 to 70 percent for over twenty years.
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