Woman shapes up to benefit ill children
Kate Eastman, a native of Burlington, Vt., was
back home during the Vermont City Marathon last weekend and got held
up by it near the halfway point when she went out for coffee.
"It was inspiring to watch - especially some of the ages and sizes
and shapes of the people out there," said Eastman, who lives in
Cumberland.
But what inspires her more is "the kids" for whom she will be
running in the Sportshoe Center Maine Marathon on Oct. 6. Eastman is
executive director of the Jason Program, which provides care -
medical, emotional and spiritual - to critically and terminally ill
children in Maine.
"I am running the marathon for these kids," she says. "Yesterday I
was with a baby who was just struggling for every breath. He does this
every day. I just have to do it for 26 miles."
Proceeds from the race will go to the Jason Program, so Eastman is
trying to help raise the Maine Marathon's profile, as well as
considering taking fund-raising pledges on her run.
And she is inviting people to participate in her quest through a
Get In Shape With Kate program. She has the support of several
business sponsors, including Skartdesign of Portland, Moe's Italian
Sandwiches, and Eastman's trainer, Brad Smith of Rightfit-ness Studio.
"Get In Shape With Kate" T-shirts are being sold, and Eastman hopes
anybody and everybody will join her on some Saturday training runs on
Back Cove, at 8:30 a.m. on June 15 and 29, July 20, Aug. 10 and Sept.
14, 21 and 28.
Doesn't matter if you are a beginner, because Eastman pretty much
is. Maine will be her first marathon (though she once ran 15 miles as
a Bates senior 20 years ago).
But Eastman's longest recent run has been 5 miles, and at the time
of writing she's taking a few days off with shin splints.
Furthermore, she says she's carrying too much weight on her
5-foot-9 frame. So the Back Cove jaunts will be the kind of walk/runs
most people can manage.
And anyway Eastman is making no rash promises about her marathon,
which she plans to do Jeff Galloway run/walk fashion.
"I'm not pretending that I'm definitely going to finish, or that I
will run the whole distance," she says, "but I am getting in shape to
do it.
"One thing I keep thinking about is our families and their kids.
Their life is like training for a marathon. They take a life the rest
of us would look at as hell and make it hopeful.
"That's who I'm running for - so we can serve more families. We
desperately need the support of the public to raise the funds we need
to do so."
At this point, Eastman and her five Jason Program colleagues work
full-time in addition to running the hospice program - an idea that
goes back to Eastman's time at Bates.
After reading Elisabeth Kubler Ross's "On Death and Dying," she
found herself asking "But what about kids? Who's doing anything for
them?"
Later, working on her masters in social work at the University of
Houston, she met Jason DeBusk, who had had bone cancer for two years.
"He was 17 when I met him, and 19 when he died," Eastman says. "I
was his social worker, to walk with him through his death. Before he
died, 10 years ago, I promised him I would dedicate my life to this
work."
Back in Maine, Eastman met Marie Aiken, a registered nurse who had
had a similar experience with a boy also named Jason, and they
co-founded the program.
"They are amazing, what they do with a smile on their faces,"
Eastman says of the sick children. "With the wisdom they have - Jason
used to say, 'it's not courage, it's just have-to' - they are our
greatest teachers.
"So if it means going out and making a fool of myself to help them,
that's fine."
For more information on Get In Shape With Kate, call 781-6048. For
more on the Jason Program, call 829-3537 or see the Web site at
www.jasonprogram.org.
Staff Writer John Rolfe can be contacted at 791-6429 or at:
jrolfe@pressherald.com
