Amie Cunningham, graduate family and consumer sciences major, loves to run marathons. She loves to push herself to beat personal-best times, to feel her heart pounding against her chest as she completes the final mile of a run and to know she has advanced to a new level of running.

However, the next marathon Cunningham runs will go far beyond surpassing records and pumping adrenaline. This time, she is running to save a little girl’s life.

Cunningham is trying to raise more than $4,000 for Jordan Pickering, a three-year-old girl suffering from acute lymphocytic leukemia. She was matched up with the girl by The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Team in Training, a group that hosts marathons around the country to raise money for people with leukemia and for leukemia research.

“I can run 26 miles, and these little kids have to fight to wake up every day,” Cunningham said. “I think that’s really heartbreaking.”

Because she missed a deadline to run the next Leukemia Society-sponsored marathon in Chicago, she will have to travel to Honolulu Dec. 8 to participate in the next marathon. The long distance requires her to raise more money than usual, and in her third week of fund raising, Cunningham has only raised $550.

As she approaches her Oct. 31 deadline, Cunningham is reaching out to individuals and business sponsors to give her the needed financial push to send her the marathon.

“The hardest part about this has been raising the money,” she said. “One of the hardest things I have ever done is to go out and ask people for donations.”

If she doesn’t raise the money, the donations she has collected so far will all go to the family. However, Cunningham will not be able to run in the marathon. That possibility, however, is the least of the runner’s worries.

“This time it’s not for me. It wouldn’t upset me if I couldn’t go to Hawaii,” she said. “I would be upset because now I have this little girl and her family, and they are depending on me to help raise money. It’s a lot more pressure.”

Cunningham contacted the Leukemia Society after she decided to take on marathon running as a hobby. She ran her first marathon a few years ago with the Army National Reserves, and participated in two more after that. Before she takes off to run for Pickering, she will go to Chicago to run one last marathon for herself.

“The last time I went to a marathon I thought I wanted to do it for someone besides myself,” she said. “I wanted to do something that benefited children. I think it’s so devastating when children get sick.”

Pickering was diagnosed with leukemia in July 2000, more than a year after she was born, and is now undergoing heavy treatment. Every Tuesday she makes the routine pilgrimage with her parents to the hospital, where she is treated with chemotherapy and radiation. Pickering has a 50 percent chance of survival, but Cunningham hopes the money she raises coupled with the show of support will help the sick child pull through.

“Every mile that I run and every dollar that I raise is dedicated to her,” Cunningham said. “This is all for her.”

Her dedication does not stop with one 26 mile run or one, nine hour trip to Hawaii. Her mission has spanned over five months of training and fund raising.

On top of juggling a full time job and an overloaded class schedule, she finds time to run at least five times a week. Her training requires her to get up at 5 a.m. to beat the summer heat and avoid sunburn and then run between 12 and 18 miles.

“I don’t get a lot of sleep at all,” she said. “I think it’s a good cause, so I think it’s worth it.”

She has also written over 80 letters, asking businesses and individuals to donate. Her goal is to write 20 more letters in the next three weeks, but she is hoping a large contribution will put her over the top soon.

Through weeks with very little sleep and the frustration of fund raising, Cunningham still keeps her reason for running in perspective. She said knowing she is bringing financial and emotional support to the Pickering family keeps her going.

“They just love it. Whenever a parent has a child who is sick and has to go the hospital, usually one parent can’t work because they are so consumed with doctors and bills and hospital stays,” she said. “It’s very hard for these families, so any support that they get helps them survive and live each day.”

Cunningham said donations of any amount would be greatly appreciated. Checks can be made out to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and sent to 2278 W. State St., Charleston, Ill. 61920. For answers to any questions, call Cunningham at (217) 512-6900.