The CentraState Healthcare Foundation and CentraState’s Fitness and Wellness Center are teaming up to hold the 10th annual Paulette’s C of Blue 5k/1mile Run & Walk and Fitness Festival on Sunday, May 5 at 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at CentraState Medical Center at 901 W. Main Street, Freehold. The event will include health screenings and information, fitness demos, children’s activities, raffle drawings, and much more.

The event, the brainchild of marathon runner and rectal cancer survivor Paulette Stallone of Manalapan, raises funds to help underprivileged local patients and families affected by colorectal cancer. Funds raised over the past 10 years have:

• Covered the costs of high-risk patients’ colorectal screening at CentraState Medical Center.  Most screenings detect the presence of cancer; colorectal screening through colonoscopy is different. Colonoscopies can help find precancerous polyps before they are malignant or cancerous, and can be removed before they have the chance to turn into cancer.  Early stages of colorectal cancer usually present no symptoms, and colonoscopies help to find this cancer early, when treatment is most effective.
• Purchased operating room equipment for CentraState. The equipment, hemodynamic Cheetah Monitors, are specific for colorectal surgery and optimize the amount of fluids circulating through the body during surgery. If patients undergoing colorectal surgery receive too much fluid, recovery time may be compromised.
• Helped fund a colorectal cancer screening clinical study at the CentraState Family Medicine Center. The study, led by Bennett Shenker, MD seeks to determine whether the use of health coaches enhance patients’ compliance in returning colorectal screening tests and will be available to 200 underserved and underinsured members of the community who might otherwise go without this potentially life-saving screening.

Paulette Stallone, who received cancer treatments at the Statesir Cancer Center at CentraState, had no risk factors, ran marathons, ate well and never smoked. Despite all of this, at age 44, Paulette was diagnosed with Stage 4 rectal cancer, facing weeks of chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery. Despite the rigorous treatment that lay ahead of her, Paulette understood the importance of exercise for well-being and continued to run three miles a day, four days a week through chemo and radiation. Seven weeks after surgery, Paulette resumed her running with more conviction than ever.

From this conviction and the desire to help others, the Paulette’s C of Blue 5k/1mile Run & Walk was born. To continue to help Paulette Stallone in her efforts to raise awareness of colorectal cancer and to raise funds to support colorectal prevention and other community programs provided by CentraState Medical Center, please join Paulette at the Paulette’s C of Blue 5k/1mile Run & Walk and Fitness Festival.

The entry fee for the Run/Walk is $20 per person and the Fitness Festival is free. For more information or to register/make a donation, visit crowdrise.com/paulettes10th or call 732-294-7030.