Mini Spidermen, Batwomen and other superheroes flocked to Wilson Plaza Sunday, to take part in the superhero-themed 15th annual Bruin Run/Walk.
More than 1,100 men and women registered for the 5K race this year, said Hannah Chou, a third-year electrical engineering student and director of the event. The Bruin Run/Walk committee within the Undergraduate Students Association Council’s Student Wellness Commission organized the event.
The event raised money for Chase Child Life Program at the Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA, which helps ease and familiarize young children, adolescents and their families with the hospital experience, Chou said.
For the first time, the event hosted a costume contest and offered discounted registration fees for students and teams.
The event did not raise as much as it has in past years in part because several other races were held throughout Los Angeles on the same day, including Relay for Life, Chou said.
UCLA Athletics volunteered some of its athletes to buddy up with different families of children being sponsored and assist them with running the route.
“I think it’s cool to think back to when I was younger and remember the people who had a strong influence in my life and try to be that for a child now,” said Molly Schoenfeld, a third-year biology student and member of UCLA rowing.
Children sponsored by the hospital posed for a picture with their sponsors at the end of the event when the medals and awards were handed out on stage.
Sponsored children are divided into two categories: “legends” if they have participated in the past or “daredevils” if this is their first time.
Dominick Trevethan, a 15-year-old high school sophomore, is one of the “daredevils.” He is confined to a wheelchair because of a disorder known as spinal muscular atrophy type 2, where he gradually developed a curvature in his spine causing his rib cage to press against his lungs and heart. This made it more difficult for him to breathe until he had a spinal fusion surgery at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center last February.
Fred and Rosemary McMillan, sponsors from Heyler Realty, sponsored Trevethan this year.
“I read Dominick’s biography and found his story so inspiring,” Fred McMillan said. “He’s got to be one of the strongest kids here.”
Trevethan’s grandparents, Cherrian and Joe Shelton, became his primary guardians last April after his father passed away in 2011 and his mother and stepmother relinquished their legal rights because of personal reasons.
Joseph Durazo, a program nurse/coordinator for Trevethan’s medical services, said he does not even consider taking care of Trevethan a job anymore.
“Over this past year, our relationship has become more of a brothership,” Durazo said. “Words cannot even describe Dominick because he’s so cool and smart.”
Trevethan said that once he graduates high school he plans on applying to UCLA.
As part of her job, Alisha Sandalow, a child life specialist at Mattel Children’s Hospital, said she has to come up with “creative outlets of play” to keep the children entertained, such as a scavenger hunt around UCLA.
Clearing up misconceptions and using medical dolls to to explain to the kids what exactly is going on with their bodies is a primary focus of child life specialists at the child life program, Sandalow said.
Leila Raine, a 2-year-old “daredevil,” has struggled with heart problems since she was born.
“Child Life helped teach us how to explain (Raine)’s condition to our other two kids,” said Jill Howden-Gray, Leila’s mother. “They’ve given us so much that we jump at any chance we get to give back to the program.”
This is Chou’s seventh year participating in some way in Bruin Run/Walk since her cousin introduced her to it in high school.
“After I graduate I want to take all my participation and volunteer shirts and make it into a quilt,” Chou said. “I want something to remember this incredible experience by.”