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Vital Signs

CHaD events were "super" to the "extreme"

By Alan Smithee

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Over 1,000 superheroes braved a drizzly day to set a Guinness record for CHaD

The Children's Hospital at Dartmouth (CHaD) doesn't do things by half measures—even (or maybe especially) when putting on a half marathon. Calling the 4th Annual CHaD Half Marathon "super" and another recent CHaD fund-raiser "extreme" isn't indulging in hyperbole, it's just being factual.

The organizers of the August 29 half marathon used the event as a springboard to try to break the Guinness World Record for the most superheroes in one place at one time. They invited runners, volunteers, and spectators to come costumed as a superhero, to highlight the heroism of CHaD's young patients. The villain of the day was the weather—it drizzled most of the afternoon—but nevertheless the Guinness record fell before the might of 1,016 caped crusaders. And CHaD ended up nearly $230,000 to the good.

A month later, the family of a CHaD patient did a star turn on ABC-TV's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Eight-year-old Cameron Marshall's battle with leukemia was just one of the reasons his family was picked by the show to get a new house.

The Guinness record fell before the might of 1,016 caped crusaders.

Positive: It was a fitting choice, however, for after young Cam learned his blood type was B-positive, he decided that would be his mantra: "be positive." He's done that by lending his name to a one-mile kids' race—Cam's Course—that has now become part of the half marathon. And a walkathon the week of the house-raising raised an additional $27,000 for CHaD.


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