Through running and dedication, professor Margaret Hvatum gives back to the Lukemia and Lymphoma Society
By: Luelana Bustamante
-Staff Writer-
She was hospitalized seven times because of asthma and was unable to walk 0.1 mile without stopping to rest. That was the summer of 1995 for professor Margaret Hvatum, 55, program coordinator of Information Office Systems of STLCC-Meramec.
Now, Hvatum is a different person. She ran 15 marathons in the last 15 years. Last year, she competed in five races on behalf of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS).
“If you run for a charity you can think about the meaning of the cause and why you are doing it and it becomes more important than just you,” Hvatum said. “It means you are training to raise money to cure cancer, like in my case.”
Curing her own sickness and the will to raise her three kids were some of the reasons why Hvatum decided to start a fitness plan. Since the medicine wasn’t helping with the asthma treatment, she tried to walk one mile every day. As she was getting healthier and more used with the walking, she decided to run. At the end of the summer, she ran in her first competition. The 8km race took her more than one hour to finish it.
“I was the last one to finish it, but I was glad just to be able to do it,” Hvatum said.
The realization that she was able to finish a race, the fact that her asthma condition was improving, and the hospitalizations decreasing made Hvatum decide to do more running. She ran five miles, then ten miles, and then decided to run her first half-marathon, the Go! St. Louis Marathon, about nine years ago.
Four years later, Hvatum did her first Marathon in Chicago, followed by marathons in Montana; Anchorage, Alaska; Orlando, Fla.; Honolulu, Hawaii; San Antonio, Texas; San Diego, Calif.; Phoenix, Ariz.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Boston, Mass.; New Orleans, La.; St. Louis, Mo.; Dublin, Ireland; and Berlin, Germany.
As a member of the 50 States Marathon Club, where the athletes have to run at least one marathon in each state, Hvatum plans to run marathons until she is at least 82 years old.
“The more I run, the better I feel, and healthier,” Hvatum said.
A particular memory Hvatum has is from the Disney Goofy Challenge in Disney Land in Orlando. Wearing a princess skirt made of blue and green chiffon, Hvatum ran a half-marathon on Jan. 8 and a full marathon on Jan. 9.
“I didn’t know I could actually complete that challenge because it was basically running for three half-marathons in a single weekend,” Hvatum said. “But I finished it and I was really happy.”
Hvatum is already in another four marathons this year: Stockholm, Ohio, Vermont, and Savannah.
Hvatum said that the LLS pays for all her travel expenses and offers her a coach, who helps her with the training. As a way to give it back, she has been raising money for the LLS, sending fundraising letters to people she knows, distributing beads in Soulard at Mardi Gras, and collecting donations through her website.
For the Go! St. Louis half-marathon on April 10, her goal is to raise one thousand dollars. So far she has already raised approximately $9,400.
“Every time I’m running or training and I’m feeling I would like to stop, I remember how terrible it was to be in the hospital, in the oxygen, and I just don’t want to be there again,” Hvatum said.
