Hike Honors Cancer Survivers

Testimonials

“In the past, I have always had a difficult time incorporating a health curriculum into the classroom. With so many standards to meet in the core subjects like Math, Reading, and Writing, Health curriculums often get pushed to the side. However, the Road of Life health curriculum has changed that in my classroom.”

– Kimberly Frank, 4^th grade teacher at Tanque Verde Elementary School in Tucson, AZ

“I believe the ROL program is a worthy effort that will make a positive difference in the lives of children.”

– Karen L. Gilliam, Ph.D. Manager of the Office of Diversity at The MetroHealth System

“Road of Life focuses on educating children on fitness, nutrition, and overall good decision making that will lead to healthier lives and greatly reduce the risk of developing cancer later in life. We recognize the work that ROL is doing and we want to help ROL create an Adolescent and Young Adult specific program to expand ROL’s program to this age group. We look forward to working with ROL..."

– John J. Letterio, M.D., Chief of the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital

“Road of Life improves the health knowledge of all students that are involved in the program. We even featured their work in the College’s Annual Report Magazine.”

– Lori Bolton, Assistant Director for the Practice Education and Career Services in The Ohio State University College of Public Health

“I am a very strong advocate of the Road of Life: Cancer Prevention for Kids program and the innovative work they have done with Columbus Public Schools.”

– Andrew Ginther, Columbus City Council (Former Columbus Public School Board Member)

“We are confident that the Road of Life Program will help improve the knowledge and build awareness of health for children in Cleveland.”

– Eileen Korey, Vice President of Communications at The MetroHealth System

“By providing this information to children, we are teaching them that they are not only responsible for their personal health but in the future they can choose to be responsible for helping others become healthier. The sheer diversity of each curriculum demonstrates ROL’s ability to solve the main problem of chronic illness.”

– Denisha E. Garland, MPH, SIT with the Cincinnati Health Department

“Road of Life is a unique and exciting organization. ROL takes the idea of cancer prevention a few steps further and tries to establish good lifestyle choices and habits with children, long before they are potentially faced with a cancer diagnosis. I believe in ROL because of their unique ability to pull resources from different sources, such as the medical community, the public health community, and the education community.”

– Sharon E. Kim, Clinical Research Coordinator at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center

“We support Road of Life because of its great work against a dreadful disease. We believe that ROL will impact the knowledge of health for children everywhere.”

– Jack Staph, Executive Director of the Cleveland Marathon, Half Marathon & 10K

“This program is easy for our teachers to integrate the curricula in their classrooms. Due to the fact that the classroom curriculum is aligned to National Health Standards as well as State Academic Standards, teachers do not have to veer away from teaching the required core academic subjects of math, English language arts, social studies, and science.”

– Mary G. Maul, Principal of Scranton K-8 School in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District in OH

“I was speechless when I came across the Road of Life website. I am thrilled that the lessons are available to our school for free. The lessons are extremely interactive, encouraging all students to participate. They also cross several subject areas, not just health.”

– Agatha Kusenda, Guidance Counselor at Brainerd Baptist School in Chattanooga, TN

“All the lessons in the After School Program were easy to use and integrate into our current programs. The kids loved learning lessons while enjoying the activities; the facilitators loved the user-friendly content. After using Road of Life’s programs, the children experienced an increase in knowledge through education, a change in attitude through awareness and exposure, and a change in behavior through action and performance.”

– Lisa Palmer, Executive Director for the Olde Southside Community Partnership

“Road of Life’s innovative programs have a very important role to play in keeping some of America’s most at-risk communities healthy.”

– Laurel Shoaff-Tranick, Program Manager for the Corporation for National and Community Service

Hike Honors Cancer Survivers

Road of Life in the News

Written by News Journal

Thursday, 18 September 2003 00:00

For Rob Emrich of Shaker Heights, the Road of Life this week was hilly, winding Ohio 514, on which he was making his way from Nashville to Wooster.

All part of a 17-day trek from downtown Cincinnati to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland to promote cancer awareness.

"Cancer is a social issue. It's reached epidemic proportions. Every mile I walk is dedicated to someone who has survived cancer or lost their life to it," Emrich, 24, said.

There are 20 miles of hiking between Nashville on its Holmes County hilltop to Wooster, where Emrich planned to meet with students in hopes of founding a student chapter of his "Road of Life" program there. He has made similar efforts at Dayton University and Kenyon College during his long walk.

By the time he reaches downtown Cleveland, Emrich will have walked 317 miles -- which would count for 317 names he hopes to memorialize as victims or survivors of cancer.

Emrich never had cancer; however, his sister and cousin died from it. A philosophy major at The Ohio State University, he once worked in a cancer lab and saw the problems younger researchers had getting funding for their work.

A combination of personal loss and experience motivated him to found "Road of Life," a nonprofit geared toward promoting cancer research and prevention. He said he sold his car and some other personal items to come up with some initial funding.

"We depend a lot on volunteer help," he said.

He said "Road of Life" is the operating arm of the Karen Rebecca Emrich Cancer Foundation, named in memory of his sister.

So far, he has come up with a headquarters in Suite 509 East Gay Street in Columbus, and a website, www.roadoflife.org.

Part of his hike, which is also connected to Ohio's Bicentennial celebration, is a reminder that old-fashioned exercise is a preventative measure. Not "lighting up" is another, he said.

Besides stopping at colleges along the route, Emrich also was talking to fourth-grade classes wherever possible.

On the road, he was accompanies by one car driven by Josh Weiner, 23, or Rockland County, N.Y., and by Dan Pepper of Northern Ohio Live magazine, who was doing a story for the November issue of his magazine.

THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (HHS) is the United States government's principal agency for protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services, especially for those who are least able to help themselves.

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In Memory of Louis Brenner

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