Using the memory of her mother, Jean, as motivation, WPIX‘s Magee Hickey tells our sister blog FishbowlNY, she’ll run the New York City Marathon as her first marathon. Hickey’s mother died of colon cancer five years ago.
“She would love that I’m doing this in her memory to raise money for other people, because her life was always about doing for other people.”
According to Fishbowl NY, The WPIX reporter got the idea to run when then assistant, now interim, news director John Houseman assigned her to a series of profiles on cancer survivors running the half-marathon.
That’s when it hit the veteran broadcast journalist. She was a cancer survivor, who suggested going through the rigors of training and ultimately running. But a cautious Houseman wasn’t pushing her to participate. He just wanted his reporter to keep her mic in hand, meeting with the cancer survivors regularly for updates on their training. Hickey wanted more, and she got permission to run. However, she was told that her inclusion wasn’t “the story”.
Hickey completed the half-marathon in March and has convinced some of her colleagues, including Dan Mannarino, to join her on a Channel 11 team representing the American Cancer Society. This will also be Mannarino’s first marathon.
She told Fishbowl NY the team has raised over $25,000 so far. You can donate yourself by clicking on the fundraising page.
Hickey said she expects to finish the marathon in 6 to 7 hours.
It will give her plenty of time to remember and reflect on her beloved mom. “I try as I run to keep a smile on my face and not to look like the end of the world,” Hickey says.