Fit For Fritz: A Guest Post From The Team

The recent story about the near miraculous finding of Fritz Spence's ring by a friend and co-worker at my surgery center has expanded the reach of the blog to a new audience and become the biggest post in the last year.

But behind it all is the miracle and good news of Fritz Spence himself.  Megan McCloskey, a current high jumper for the Nittany Lions is spearheading the efforts to help other families that find themselves in situations that Fritz has now faced twice.

My name is Megan McCloskey, and I am a senior high jumper on the Penn State Track & Field team. I am reaching out to you all to share some information on PSUTF’s main fundraiser each year, Fit For Fritz. If you still keep up with the team, you may be familiar with these fundraising efforts for our beneficiary, The American Cancer Society’s Hope Lodge.

Back in December 2008, Coach Fritz Spence (Women’s Jumps & Multis) was diagnosed with leukemia. After receiving treatment, and remaining cancer free for almost 5 years, Coach Spence relapsed in July of 2013. At this time, PSUTF athletes came together to help raise money for Coach Spence and his family. This ultimately became known as the Fit For Fritz Walk-a-Thon. This fundraiser meant everything to the Spence family during their difficult time.

Along with the help of the track & field team, the Hershey Hope Lodge provided Coach Spence and his family a place to stay for free while he was undergoing treatment.  Today, Coach Spence is healthy and looking to give back and help out others who are going through what he and his family went through. This is why we continue Fit For Fritz as an annual event, 4 years later.

We have 2 main goals for Fit For Fritz:
    1) Raise money for our beneficiary, The American Cancer Society’s Hope Lodge, in Hershey PA  We raised $11,700 last year. Our goal this year is $13,000.
    2) Get students and community members registered for the bone marrow registry through our partner, Be The Match.

Our 5th Annual Fit For Fritz event will be held November 5, 2017 from 11am-3pm at the indoor track. As part of this event, we will be hosting a 1 mile community walk, along with fitness challenges, karaoke, raffles, and more. We invite you to join us that day and help us support such an honorable and important cause. You can register for the walk through this link: https://goo.gl/forms/ajgfn96TFYsCShlb2 (no registration fee -- just suggested donation!)

If you are unable to attend, but would still like to show your support, we encourage you to visit our donation website, where you can make a general donation to the event, or donate under a current PSUTF athlete's page (by clicking on the list of participants in blue).

For more information on Fit For Fritz, check out our website, where you can read Coach Spence’s story, which he wrote himself.

Please also feel free to follow Fit For Fritz on social media, through the following links:
    our Twitter account 
    our Facebook page
   
We are very excited about Fit For Fritz this year, and hope you will help us make a difference for individuals and families battling cancer.

Thanks so much!

Megan McCloskey