Northern Kane County families hope you'll join them for a walk against cancer

Meet Bonnie Jilek, one of J.Z.'s Angels.

She met J.Z. at the Dundee Township Park District Recreation & Fitness Center, she on the elliptical trainer, he on the adjacent bike.

As they puffed their way through their workouts, they shared tidbits about their lives, he often talking of his wife, daughters and grandchildren, she sharing the latest from her family. Over the years, they often chatted about their mutual love for plants and gardening.

"He just lit up the fitness center when he walked in," Bonnie said. "He talked to everyone, and everyone was his friend. He always had a smile on his face, was always a delight."

Then Jerry Z. Young of Carpentersville stopped coming in for that daily afternoon workout.

When he did finally come by, it was to tell his rec center friend that he had a rare cancer.

And, although he was upbeat "in typical Jerry fashion," she knew what he faced.

Bonnie, of Sleepy Hollow, had cared for her mom as she, too, fought the insidious disease. It was a difficult journey, "the hardest thing I ever did in my life," as her mother declined, no longer recognizing Bonnie or her siblings, several of whom also have battled cancer.

She'd told Jerry about the painful journey, one he also knew because his wife, Mary, is a breast cancer survivor and he had also lost family members to cancer.

"It just broke my heart," Bonnie said. "Why is it the good guys get these diseases? This disease is wiping out the world."

Jerry lost his fight three years ago. Now his loved ones and friends will walk in his honor as J.Z.'s Angels in the Northern Kane County Relay for Life event May 2-3 at Dundee-Crown High School's fieldhouse.

They hope you'll join them, either as individuals or with teams of your own. If you can't attend, they'd love any contribution you can make.

Visit relayforlifenorthkane.com for info.

It's for Jerry. And for Bonnie's mom, Delores Stewart.

Her mom would be right out there with them if she could, Bonnie said. And she hopes plenty of you will join the effort.

"The cure is certainly the optimum," Bonnie said. "That's what everyone wants.

"We need everybody coming together for this horrible disease to say we're gonna get you."

That's the goal for Jerry's daughter Jenny Rehberg, who is helping to organize this year's relay and invites us all to join what promises to be a night filled with promise -- not sadness.

"It has to do about hope," Jenny said of the effort that is a "kind of therapy" for her to cope with the loss of a dad she misses very much. She doesn't want to lose any more family and she doesn't want others to go through what her family has faced.

"There is hope," Jenny said. "You get goosebumps watching the people walk around the track and everyone cheering.

"It's uplifting and happy," Jenny said.

Just like her dad.