CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – The Keep Pounding 5K raises money for Atrium Health to help give adults and children with cancer access to the latest treatment and clinical trials.
Health officials, sponsors, and race participants will meet at Levine Cancer Institute to kick off the race Saturday at 8 a.m.
Leon Rogers is a nine-year-old getting treatment at Levine Children’s Hospital. He was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare cancer impacting nerve cells.
“Every week, I get this medicine, and it’s really painful,” Leon Rogers said. “I don’t know why, but it hurts.”
Hundreds will run in this Saturday’s Keep Pounding 5K race.
He and his mom, Ana, spend six-to-nine hours several days a week at the hospital for cancer treatment. The Rogers family moved to Charlotte from San Diego for treatment and to be closer to family.
“We usually have a conversation every morning like, this is just something that we have to do, whether we like it or not, and this is how we keep the cancer away,” Ana Rogers said. “Usually, I remind him, you know, we have some great people taking care of you.”
The Keep Pounding 5k helps raise money to help patients access the latest treatments and clinical trials at Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute and Children’s Hospital.
The Carolina Panthers and Atrium Health Foundation started the race in 2003. In 20 years, the Keep Pounding Fund has raised more than $4.4 million in charitable gifts, exclusively benefiting cancer programs at Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute and Atrium Health Levine Children’s Hospital.
