BERLIN – As a high school student, Caitlin Adams didn’t know the meaning of the word prosthesis.
Three years later, she’s preparing to run 390 miles to raise money for those in need of prosthetic limbs.
“I think this is something I’m really meant to do,” said Adams, who began her run last weekend.
Adams launched her Run Across Maryland campaign to raise money for Limbs for Life, an organization that provides those in need with prosthetic limbs. She began her run in Cumberland on May 23 and will finish it here in Ocean City June 27. Just three rest days are built into the grueling schedule, which will require Adams to average 17 miles a day.
“It’s going to be a challenge but I have no doubt I’m going to be able to do this,” she said.
The Towson University student, who just this week finished her freshman year, says the idea of running to raise money for prosthetic limbs has been in the back of her mind since she first looked up the word as a high school student. She still recalls the way it popped into her head out of the blue.
“I think it came from God,” she said, “the way it just popped into my brain.”
Thinking about those with artificial legs, in particular, made her realize how lucky she was to have hers, as they enabled her to run.
“Running has always been my release,” she said, “and I’m using my legs to do it.”
She decided to make her fundraising idea a reality this year when she reevaluated her goals after quitting her school’s cross country team.
“I got a notebook and I wrote down everything I wanted to do,” she said, “and I remembered that this was something I really wanted to do.”
She chose Limbs for Life as the charity her money would go toward because of its willingness to help anyone in need of an artificial limb.
“They didn’t put any limitation on it,” she said. “Anyone who loses a limb deserves to get one.”
After months of collecting donations, Adams has already raised nearly $15,000 for the organization. As limbs average $2,500 each, she’s already helped several people. Adams said she was lucky enough to meet one of them — Angie Lange — on a trip to Texas. The woman, who was able to get a prosthetic leg through Adams’ fundraising, told her she lost hers after jumping into a river that was too shallow. She broke her leg and an infection eventually forced doctors to amputate it.
“She said she was so happy now just to be able to stand in the grocery store line,” Adams said. “That’s when all of the hard work paid off. I realized this is what I’m doing it for. These people get the opportunity to start their life over.”
For more information on Adams’ run, visit www.runacrossmaryland.com or look up Run Across Maryland on Facebook. Adams says anyone who is interested is welcome to join her on one of the legs of her journey as she runs from Cumberland through northern Maryland and down the Eastern Shore.