WORCESTER, Mass. — In an effort to support families dealing with childhood cancer, Why Me & Sherry's House held its fourth annual Ruck March Challenge over the weekend.
Why Me & Sherry's annual Ruck March is a four-day event full of rucking, camping, celebrating and emotions for the Why Me and Sherry community.
The Ruck March Charity Challenge is a military-inspired event where athletes hike 100 miles in total; 25 miles a day for four days.
Athletes camp out each night on the farm of a local brewery and carry everything they need for this four-day event on their backs.
The Ruck March has become a tradition for athletes like Rick Porter and Brenda Pagano who wore three-peat king and queen sashes.
"It was tough, but it was fun," Porter said. "We had a great group of people on the course with us that made the time pass real fast."
"So cool, felt the best I have after three times," Pagano said. "Everybody's been so awesome. Met some amazing people."
Nearly 100 individuals have attempted Why Me & Sherry's 100-mile Ruck March.
As of Sunday evening, this year's march has raised $180,000 between their adult and kids rucks.
The annual event is also an emotional one for the Sherry's House community, including the Dube family. Holly and her daughter Samantha rucked together this year. Samantha said, as a cancer survivor, she's no stranger to facing a challenge head-on.
"It's amazing. I did this for the second year in a row for my daughter, we did it together," Dube said. "And she was diagnosed in 2017 with leukemia and once she turned 18 she knew this is what she wanted to do to give back to Sherry's House because they are a huge part of our family now they are a huge inspiration and I wanted to be there right alongside with her to push her along and she pushed me along but we did it together."
"It was challenging," Dube said. "It was definitely a mental game but nothing compared to the two and half years of cancer treatment I went through; nothing compares to that."
The four-day ruck march challenge ends at Why Me & Sherry's House on Pleasant Street in Worcester.
The organization supports families from the moment a child is diagnosed with cancer and say they are available for families through every step of their child’s treatment and beyond.