Caring Caps: Area walk/run helps children's hospital

Atticus, a 2-year-old pug owned by Tara Noronha of Chicago, wore a visor with the Caps 4 Sam logo near the finish line of Sunday’s five-kilometer timed walk in Hopkins Park in DeKalb. Noronha, not shown, works in the hospital’s fundraising development office and has been at all three Caps 4 Sam events. “We’re really proud to be a recipient of their funds,” she said. ERIC SUMBERG | esumberg@daily-chronicle.com

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There was something for everyone. An ice-cream cone, a five-kilometer race, a handwritten note, a beautiful day in the park. They were all there, and for a good cause. A practically perfect Sunday in Hopkins Park in DeKalb more than 800 people come to support Caps 4 Sam, the third annual event to raise money for Chicago's Children's Memorial Hospital. Sam Ihm, who is now 13, had surgery on a brain tumor more than three years ago on Jan. 18, 2005. The caps were one way that Sam connected to those around him in a difficult time. “He was going to have to wear a cap. Pretty soon, all his friends did the same,” said Mary Overbey, Sam's grandmother. “He even gave one to his doctor.” On the day of his surgery, the entirety of St. Mary School in DeKalb wore caps. Now, three years later, Caps 4 Sam caps and visors are everywhere. The event has also become a major event in the early spring schedule for the area, with greater participation each year. “The number of runners has increased by about 100 or 150,” Overbey said. “We had 750 shirts this year, and some people didn't even get one.” Local businesses and organizations have pitched in with monetary donations and volunteer work. BioLife Plasma Services in DeKalb gave $4,000; Whitman's Catering provided 400 chicken, beef, pork sandwiches and hot dogs; Papa John's donated pizza; and Northern Rehab gave massages. Several sororities from Northern Illinois University staffed various parts of the day's festivities, including by keeping the buffet for participants in the newly renovated Hopkins Park shelter stocked. Runners were also pleased with the event, and themselves. “This is how I like to give charity,” said Liz Lemrise, 24, a graduate student in physical education at NIU, after finishing first for women in the five-kilometer run in a time of 21:00. Men's winner Nathan Eagen, 27, of DeKalb, set a new course record in the five-kilometer with a time of 16:53. “It's a nice area. I like the setup they have; it's very organized,” he said after his race. For those who participated in the 3-kilometer walk through the park, such as Jody Brown, 35, an undergraduate in NIU's Nursing School who walked with 10 of her classmates and their families, this year had a personal touch. “This is the first time we did it, because it's the first time we met Mary,” Brown said, referring to clinical work her classmates had done with Overbey, who is the program director for the DeKalb Adult Day Center. “I'm sure we'll be back.” As for Sam, now a laid-back teenager who plays on a traveling baseball team and aspires to play for the Chicago Cubs, each year is a reminder of how far he has come. “It's a whole new experience from what my life was like before,” he said.