Walk/Run to Raise ITP awareness

Hello, my name is Bethany. I was diagnosed with ITP a year ago, and am currently in remission after a long time on steroids ( notice the user name )

I would really like to sponsor a walk/run event in my community to raise awareness and funds for ITP and research. It is an idea I have had for some months and I was inspired by Kristin's story in the PDSA news.

I was wondering if any of you have heard about these events, sponsored, or attended one. I would like some feedback, what you liked, didn't liked, and any information you have on how to go about planning this huge event. Any information would be appreciated, so far I am only at the beginning stage of planning. Thank you so much.

P.S I was not sure which category to post this on. My apologies.

Hi Bethany! I'm so glad to hear that you were inspired by my run, and I think it's a great idea that you want to organize one in your community. Where are you from?
I was diagnosed with ITP in 2004 so I've been living with it for 7 years, I'm now 19 years old.
But yes this is definitely a huge event to organize so it depends on your personal goals as far as fundraising and awareness goes. The first step I would say though is to contact Nancy Potthast who's the marketing director of PDSA, I believe her info is posted somewhere on the site and she can provide you with lots of information and help throughout organizing everything(she's great!) Then I would look for sponsors that could help with race numbers, and registration, lend you equipment and donate medals or other cool stuff for the participants. Definitely make sure you have a team of people helping you (family and friends) and volunteers, because there's alot of stuff to think about. also don't forget about advertising because you want to get as many people involved and aware of your event as possible, so create facebook event pages, hang posters everywhere you can think of, etc. Also you need a place like a park or local city area to hold your event and figure out the distance so you can map out a course for the participants to walk/run. I suggest giving yourself at least 4 months, if not more, to plan this type of event because I did it in less than 3 months and that wasn't enough time, because I would have liked to have more time for advertising and stuff, and it felt too rushed. If you plan for early september for example, start getting things together around June the latest. Anyways, sorry for writing a novel, but overall it was such a great experience and seeing all the support was an amazing feeling, so I wish you all the best with whatever you decide to organize! and please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns, either now or throughout the process

- Kristin