Johnna Pinholster
The Valdosta Daily Times
VALDOSTA —
Usually an At Random focuses on a individual. One person’s accomplishments and impact on the community in which he or she resides.
Sometimes one person’s impact creates a ripple effect, touching others, creating the need for human connectivity and interaction to make an idea reality.
This is the story of connecting, of the connection between Leisa Marshall and the Brogdon family. This is a story about connectivity, both on the Web and face to face.
Earlier this year, as Marshall began contemplating what it meant to turn 50 (her birthday is this December), she thought hard about the state of her health.
Many of Marshall’s health habits were less than stellar, and she suffers from high cholesterol.
“I thought, ‘Hey, I can’t go into 50 being that way,’” Marshall said.
So, she ditched the everyday fast food habit and cut back on the coffee-flavored caffeine kicks.
Marshall also decided she would run a 5K.
Being new to Facebook, the Internet social phenomenon that has transfixed millions, Marshall became friends with former student Steven Brogdon Jr.
She had heard Brogdon was running 5Ks and contacted him to learn more.
The message she received in return changed the scope and purpose of her 50th year.
Building bridges
Brogdon and Marshall first connected when he was a student in one of the accounting professor’s classes at Valdosta State University.
In 2005, Marshall was debating whether or not to leave her job at VSU to help put her father, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, in a home.
Instead, Marshall received permission to take a sabbatical, and she came back to teach at VSU.
On the first day of classes, Marshall discussed her father and his condition and the emotional experience of dealing with the first stages of Alzheimer’s.
After the class, Brogdon approached Marshall and shared how his life had been affected by Alzheimer’s as his grandfather had it.
“He told me stories about his grandfather, and I told him I am going to put that in memory because I know my dad is going to be getting there,” Marshall said.
Brogdon, Marshall said, would spend Friday evenings with his grandfather while his father, Steven Brogdon Sr. ensured that the elder Brogdon remained in his home for the last six years of his life.
Though Marshall had heard about Brogdon Sr., she would not meet him until February of this year.
From despair comes hope
Brogdon Sr. received his diagnosis of Stage IV colon cancer in January.
“It was like being hit between the eyes with a ball-peen hammer,” he said.
After the initial diagnosis, Brogdon Sr. said his spirits were pretty low.
The uncertainties surrounding a cancer diagnosis are staggering, he said.
One doesn’t know how bad it is after the initial announcement, and one does not know how they will react to the treatment until it starts, he said.
“Nobody knew because every body and everybody are different as far as the way they react with the chemo,” Brogdon Sr. said. “The other aspect of it was spiritually I had a monkey on my back, and I had to get him off.”
That was achieved by putting the fears of his diagnosis into the Lord’s hands, he said.
“It really lightened the burden; it’s still tough, but it’s nowhere near like it was at first,” Brogdon Sr. said.
Since then, he has undergone 12 rounds of chemotherapy. After every fourth round, Brogdon Sr. undergoes a CAT scan to gauge how the cancer is responding to the chemotherapy.
“So far, everything has been reducing great,” he said.
Though Brogdon Sr. never wanted a front row seat to cancer research and treatment, he said he is amazed at the medical advances being made.
“It’s phenomenal; I look forward to one day a person goes to the doctor, they have cancer, the doctor says, ‘Here, take this pill and call me in seven days,’” Brogdon Sr. said.
Honor Our Neighbor
Brogdon’s disclosure of his father’s diagnosis was shocking, she said.
“If you’re like me, you cuss under your breath for a while,” she said.
When Marshall wrote back, she expressed her sympathy, and Brogdon ended up calling Marshall later that same evening.
During the course of the conversation, Marshall proposed an idea — organize a 5K run in honor of Steven Brogdon Sr.
At this time, early February, Marshall had not run in a 5K, much less organized one.
“I went to one about 20 years ago, and I got as far as the starting line with my brother,” Marshall said. “We went to a restaurant to wait for it to start, and I decided that I wasn’t going.”
The name of the 5K was the first spoke in the wheel. Talking with her niece about the 5K, Marshall said she told her the title had to use the word “neighbors.”
The niece suggested “Honor Our Neighbor,” and it stuck.
“I really think this is a God-thing; that’s who put that seed there,” she said.
Brogdon Jr. was thrilled with the idea of a 5K in honor of his dad, he said.
He had only started his participation in 5K in October of 2009, but he was already hooked.
“It’s kind of addicting once you start doing it and see everybody else up there working just as hard as you,” Brogdon Jr. said. “When you are running by yourself, you hardly ever want to run a mile, much less go further, but seeing everybody put all their time and effort into it was pretty neat.”
Brogdon Sr. said he was surprised that a woman he had never met wanted to help him and his family. What most impressed him, however, was her willingness to continue hosting the 5K annually, with each year’s proceeds benefiting someone else.
There are always families who need support, Marshall said.
It is good to donate to organizations that are working on research for various diseases, but families who are battling the diseases need help, she said.
In the years to come, Marshall said the 5K run may specifically focus on colon cancer as it is not widely discussed.
Friends, family and 5Ks
Marshall was not worried about planning the 5K. The Internet became her oyster, a place to research and gain insight into how to organize a 5K.
A cavalcade of T-shirt designs, sponsors, police escorts, city approval and a couple of 5Ks later, Honor Our Neighbor was run.
“I did one step at the time and just kept moving until the day came,” she said.
On July 10 more than 132 runners and walkers participated in the race that began at McKey Park, headed south on Patterson Street to Brookwood Drive, then circled back to McKey Park by way of Oak Street.
The race raised thousands of dollars for the Brogdon family.
Marshall feels donating to just one family helps relieve some of the financial burden.
“On one hand, you’ve got so many charities giving to research, and I firmly believe in research, but sometimes a family just needs it,” Marshall said. “I wish we could do it for all families, but unfortunately it will be limited to one per year.”
Brogdon Jr. came in third for his age group during the race.
Donna Brogdon, Brogdon Sr.’s wife, is still amazed Marshall pulled it off.
“Leisa had little bits and pieces of people helping her, but she was a one-woman show,” Brogdon said. “I’ve planned events, but I’ve always had a committee, and she was the committee.”
Marshall said she didn’t know enough to utilize a committee as she was planning the race.
“I had even planned on doing the race until about a month and a half into it, and I thought, ‘I can’t run the race, I’m working on it,’” Marshall said.
Marshall has now run in two 5K races.
“The first time I did it, my goal was just to make it through the whole thing, and I did that,” she said. “They are very addicting.”
Next year, Marshall said, a committee will help her organize and pick out a new neighbor to honor.
For more information or to contact Marshall to help with the 2011 race, visit the Honor Our Neighbor page on Facebook.
