Transcontinental runner, nurse and cancer survivor brings inspirational message to NCH
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. (June 17, 2015) - Four-time cancer survivor Helene Neville has battled three brain surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation. She has decided to become one more thing - a transcontinental runner who is on course to complete a run around the perimeter of the United States.
The 54-year-old nurse, grandmother and health activist will take a break from her running and stop at Northwest Community Healthcare (NCH) in Arlington Heights to deliver her message of inspiration to NCH employees and community members. Neville will share her story of running across America and her mission to motivate others to improve their health at noon, Friday, June 19, at the NCH Auditorium. Admission is free to the public.
Neville is on target to become the first grandmother to complete a solo run on foot around the perimeter of the continental U.S. Neville began the last leg of her 9,715-mile run May 1 in New Brunswick, Canada, and is scheduled to complete her run on September 5 in Ocean Shores, Wash.
Neville began her transcontinental run in 2010 when she completed a 2,520-mile route from California to Florida in just 93 days. She spent the next two years overcoming her fourth bout of cancer before she continued her journey in 2013. When she completes her final run in September, Neville will be one of only four runners to complete a run around the perimeter of the U.S.
About Northwest Community Healthcare (NCH)
Serving Chicago's northwest suburbs since 1959, NCH is a comprehensive, patient-centered system of care that serves more than 350,000 outpatients each year and more than 20,000 inpatients treated annually at the 496-bed acute care hospital in Arlington Heights. The award-winning hospital holds the prestigious Magnet designation for nursing excellence, is designated as a Primary Stroke Center, earned the Joint Commission's Gold Seal of Approval in 2014, and was awarded the Leapfrog Group's designation as one of the nation's Top Hospitals based on quality and safety criteria. NCH has four Immediate Care locations in the northwest suburbs and operates an NCH Easy Access walk-in clinic in Palatine. NCH has a medical staff of more than 1,000 physicians, which includes the board-certified primary care doctors and specialists of the NCH Medical Group. These physicians have selected our facility as a place where they want to treat and care for their private patients. For more information, or to find a doctor on the NCH Medical staff, visit www.nch.org.