From The Orange County Register
By Mark Eades / Staff Writer
Good fairies, villains, aliens and superheroes descended on Disneyland before the park opened on Sunday to raise money for CHOC.
Nearly 15,000 people took part in the 26th annual “CHOC Walk in the Park” at the Disneyland Resort, a key annual fundraiser for the children’s hospital in Orange. The five-kilometer route wound through Disneyland and Disney California Advenuture.
“Having it on Halloween weekend with all the character costumes people wore made it really unique this year,” said Zach Abrams, senior director of special events for the CHOC Children’s Foundation.
Disney is a major sponsor of CHOC, and many Disney characters lined the route throughout both parks.
The walk started at 6 a.m., with people still walking three hours later.
Many of those who walked in the fundraiser had children or relatives who stayed at CHOC.
“We’re celebrating my daughter surviving at CHOC 32 years ago,” said Debi Connell of Cypress. Her surviving daughter was on the walk, too, raising funds for CHOC.
“I stopped breathing and was there for a week in intensive care,” said Keri Connell, 34.
Carly and Haley Pearson from Huntington Beach were dressed as aliens, with antennas sticking up out of the tops of their heads, and a third eye on their foreheads. They walked in memory of a friend who stayed at the children’s hospital years ago.
“I had a best friend growing up who was treated through CHOC and in her memory, we walk every year,” Carly said.
The honorary Ambassador for this year’s walk was Timmaree Hicks. She had a rare form of eye cancer, and spent two years at CHOC before she passed away in 2008 at the age of nine.
During her long stay, she used her artistic talents to paint rocks with images of butterflies. They became collector’s items for much of the CHOC staff, and others. Many made donations to CHOC when Timmaree would give them a rock, her mother Debbie said.
Now the Hicks’ family make rock-painting kits for patients at the hospital, funded by garage and bake sales they stage throughout the year. The family has also participated in the CHOC walk each year, along with “Team Timmaree” on Sunday – raising nearly $50,000 this year.
Timmaree’s family – mother Debbie, father Gerry and sister Brylee, 13 – led this year’s walk.
“We’re here to represent all the patients who have had stays at CHOC,” Debbie Hicks said.
Contact the writer: meades@scng.com or follow on twitter @markaeades
