Journal & Topics Media Group

5K Benefits Families Who Need Transportation To Medical Centers


Michelle Ernsdorff

In 1974, Park Ridge resident Michelle Ernsdorff-May was too young to remember traveling with her family for life-saving medical treatment for kidney cancer, but her parents remember seeking medical care for their then-14-month-old.

Since there was no pediatric oncologist In Dubuque, Iowa, where the Ernsdorff family lived at the time, her parents, Mike and Sandy Ernsdorff, turned to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. It was at that clinic that Michelle’s kidney was removed and where she received radiation therapy and chemotherapy for 18 months.

The extensive medical treatment meant traveling back and forth to the Mayo Clinic on a monthly basis while caring for the family’s other two children. Michelle’s mother was expecting another child, and the travel expenses were becoming difficult, but they were determined to offer the best care for their child. With one car and no funds for a bus ticket or a rental car, Michelle’s father left the car in Minnesota with his wife and hitchhiked home to return to work and care for their other children.

Understanding what her parents went through and parents today may be experiencing, Ernsdorff created Compass to Care, the Mike & Sandy Ernsdorff Childhood Cancer Foundation, to provide immediate transportation funding.

“I wanted to honor what they did for me, so we incorporated Compass to Care in September 2009,” said Ernsdorff-May, 44.

After writing a business plan in January 2010, in March of that year, the organization received its status, Ernsdorff-May said.

“Today, we help children whose parents have a financial need. We schedule and pay for travel arrangements, gas, parking, tolls and bus fare,” Ernsdorff-May said.

She said the help usually goes to parents whose child has advanced cancer, needs specialized care, or is in a clinical trial.

So far, 344 families have received assistance from Compass to Care. The need for financial assistance does not end with them. Funds raised at the second annual Compass to Care 5K to 1-Mile Walk/Run on Saturday, Sept. 30, at Hodges Park in Park Ridge will help children continue to fight cancer, one trip at a time.

Families interested in registering may log onto compasstocare.org/5K.

Ernsdorff said a volunteer named Anna Polyak who works for the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists organized the 5K.

The 5K will start at Hodges Park and go through the neighborhoods and back to the park in front of city hall. Streets will be closed for the family event where children can walk, run or go in strollers.

Registration has already surpassed last year’s 140, Ernsdorff said.

“We’re hoping to get even more families out to support us,” she said.

While any childhood cancer survivor may register for free, a participation fee will be required for others. Event packets can be picked up before the 5K from 5 to 8 p.m. Sept. 28 at Dick Pond, 29 S. Prospect Ave., Park Ridge, or from 6:30 to 7:45 a.m. the morning of the race, also at Dick Pond.

Participants should arrive early, since registration ends 15 minutes prior to each event. Refreshments will be provided at the finish line.

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