Ed. Note: The following is a news release courtesy of the Jack’s Angels Foundation

Children’s cancer awareness advocates, who have spent the last four months running across the United States, are about to pass through the Santa Clarita Valley and run with the local Jack’s Angels Foundation director.

On October 17, ‘4Another’ finishes its Across-the-USA Run for Childhood Cancer Awareness with local Jack’s Angels runner at the Santa Monica Pier.

John McKay and Everett Smith began their cross-country run on June 6, 2015 in Virginia Beach, VA, and their final two days of the journey brings them through Santa Clarita with local runner Janet Demeter of Jack’s Angels Foundation, finishing at the Santa Monica Pier on Saturday, October 17.

McKay and Smith run for 4Another, a charitable organization devoted to raising awareness for the urgent need for research funding for pediatric cancers.  They try to meet and greet as many afflicted families as possible, and visit hospitals, bringing hope and a sense of togetherness to all they meet during their events.

“I’m so happy they’re passing through our home town,” said Demeter, director of Jack’s Angels Foundation of Santa Clarita, CA, who will run with them for at least 20 miles as part of her run for a National Day for DIPG, a pediatric brain tumor with a 0 percent survival rate and the culprit for the majority of brain tumor deaths in children each year.   

Demeter is hoping that the amendment, being drafted by Congressman Steve Knight, R-CA-25, to the STAR Act currently seeking support in the US House of Representatives and the Senate, will help raise awareness for DIPG and its many heroes, long ignored, in a National Day.

“I’ll keep running until we get one,” Demeter said.

Becky Ross Mudd, who ran across the State of California for Childhood Cancer Awareness, and Brian Jones, coordinator of “The Run for the White House for Childhood Cancer Awareness” will be joining the party on Oct.16 and 17 as the runners approach the finish.

“John and Everett met and ran with me in Washington DC just two weeks ago; we all were there for the White House Vigil for Childhood Cancer September 19, at which point we were all expelled from LaFayette Park by the Secret Service”, explained Demeter, saying children had come from all over the world—many sick—to the White House, a symbol of hope and promise for them.

The Vigil was rescheduled for the night of October 17, coincidentally the same date as the finish to the Cross Country Run; 4Another and Jack’s Angels Foundation will support the event for the West Coast, in a candlelight vigil at Topanga State Beach at approximately 7pm.

To support the run and 4Another, visit the website; for information about the Vigil, visit the website.