Running through the pain

Looking at Nugget on the day of this year's Run for the Bear, you wouldn't know he was suffering from lymphoma.

The Kulacks' beloved dog had been diagnosed with the fatal disease less than three weeks earlier.

"When he was diagnosed with it, it had already spread all over his body," said Nidia Kulack, the dog's owner.

Kulack and Nugget were a familiar sight in their Algonquin neighborhood, where Nugget was known as a friendly, obedient dog who stayed close to his owner during their morning and afternoon walks.

"He was pretty much the neighborhood dog," Kulack said. "Everybody knew him."

Kulack works as a bilingual assistant at Eastview Elementary School in Algonquin, the site of Run for the Bear, an annual 5K run/walk and 10K run that benefits pediatric cancer.

For the past few years, Kulack has walked the 5K course with Nugget.

After Nugget was diagnosed with lymphoma, Kulack wasn't sure he would be able to join her for this year's Run for the Bear.

"I really did pray to God that He would give me one more Bear Run with him," Kulack said.

On the morning of Oct. 5, the date of this year's run, Nugget, a black Labrador and golden retriever mix, showed few external signs of the disease that would soon claim his life.

"He fooled me," Kulack said. "He looked so excited. He looked so ready, so anxious to go."

Though he was suffering, Nugget finished the 5K course with his owner one last time.

"He struggled near the end," said Lucy Quinn, who works with Kulack at Eastview. "He was kind of having a hard time, but he made it."

Two days after the race, the Kulacks put Nugget to sleep.

"It was so hard. Even the vet's assistant was crying," Kulack said. "We were all crying together, saying goodbye."

Thanks to a record turnout and a fundraising push throughout Community Unit District 300, this year's Run for the Bear raised about $50,000 for the Bear Necessities Pediatric Cancer Foundation, said Quinn, a member of the Run for the Bear committee.

Teachers, students, staff and families in District 300 raised about $32,000 of that total, Quinn said.

This year, the district used the run, which is named after an Eastview student who died of cancer in 1993, as a way to focus on physical fitness.

"It's something the district's been lacking in," said Diane Heimsoth, who helped lead the fitness push as the district's benefits coordinator.

Team leaders at almost all of the district's schools helped staff and families set and achieve their fundraising and fitness goals.

"I think people that have never run before ... came out and enjoyed the day and pushed themselves," Heimsoth said. "If anything, people became aware of their fitness levels and changes they wanted to make."

Quinn, an office secretary at Eastview, said the results were encouraging but that she was cautiously optimistic about next year.

"I'm afraid to be excited because this economy's getting unstable," Quinn said. "We just hope people continue running."

The race organizers plan to keep the children's events they started this year and reintroduce a one-mile run for small children, Quinn said.

Kulack said she will be back next year, even though it will be hard without her longtime partner for the race.

"It's not going to be the same. He was just too special," Kulack said, but added, "Life goes on, and you have to move on, as difficult as it is."