Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 35-5

NEWS Walkathon to promote good mental health Steward Freed said. "This is a tough topic, but the event is really all about fun. We expect people of all ages, parents, older adults, a ton of kids, pets. It's a community event. It's a celebration." The 10th annual Rock Rally Walkathon is from 1 to 3 p.m.

Sunday The two-mile walk route will wind around commercial and residential areas of Win-netka, and along the route, signs will be posted with facts and hopeful messages about mental health, depression and how to get help. The event will include live music and a raffle. Registration is $20. Participants receive a T-shirt, a raffle ticket for a variety of prizes, and lunch. "After the walk, there's a group rally, and teen volunteers will talk to the group about the importance of good mental health and educate the group on different facts of depression," Event is in memory of young suicide By Brian L.

Cox Special to the Tribune Erika's Lighthouse, started after the suicide of Erika Neuckranz, an eighth-grader at Carleton Washburne School in Win-netka, will celebrate 10 years of "blasting the stigma surrounding teen depression" on Sunday with a walkathon at Hubbard Woods Park in Win-netka. "She struggled with depression for about a year and a half, and unfortunately took her life as a result of her depression," said Heather Steward Freed, the organization's director of programming and communications. "Her parents, Tom and Jenny, ERIKA'S LIGHTHOUSE PHOTO Rally Walkathon. Steward Freed said. For the past nine years, the walk has been in the spring, but Steward Freed said the organization decided to move it to the fall this year.

"With it being the beginning of the school year, we want students to step into the school year with good mental health," she said. "It's just energizing kids in a different way." She said the importance of having an organization like Erika's Lighthouse in the community cannot be underestimated. "When teens feels like there's no way out, that's when suicide happens," she said. believe if Erika had had this education in her school, which is what we do, she might still be here. "This is why we do what we do," she said.

"We believe in it wholeheartedly. We know it helps a lot of kids." for a program at Lutheran General in which researchers are trying to determine why certain cells suddenly become cancerous. "A lot of the administration and nurses at the hospital will be at our event," he said. They knew her and loved her. It's our mission of trying to literally save or at least prolong women's lives through awareness and better Julie W.

Schaffner Ovarian Cancer Fund event is Friday Teenagers participate in last are the founders of Erika's Lighthouse. They're still very involved." The organization directs programs toward schools, "It started out as a memorial. It's probably more of a cause now," Schaffner said. "This year we added some single malts and some craft beers for the guys, to kind of attract them." Schaffner said his wife was Chief Operating Officer at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge and was a nurse before that "You can't be a nurse that long and not be a caring person very compassionate about other people," Schaffner said. He also said that his wife knew the vital importance of making women aware of the symptoms of ovarian cancer so the disease could be caught in the early stages, when the survival rate is high.

"She had 18 months from when she was diagnosed to the time she passed," year's Erika's Lighthouse Rock teachers, parents, physicians and other health care professionals, and teens themselves, she said. "Although we're a de Schaffner said. "She didn't want other women to be caught in the same circumstance. It's really hard to detect in the early stages for a lot of reasons." Indeed, medical research shows that approximately 75 percent of women with stage III or stage IV ovarian cancer ultimately die of complications associated with the disease. However, if the cancer is detected at stage the survival rate is close to 95 percent "She thought anything you can do to kind of alert women to be more careful is a good idea," Schaffner said.

"She understood the need for education and for research and awareness among women. She and I talked about it before she passed on, so I knew this was something I had to do." Friday's "WineHops- pression organization and our mission is to raise awareness around it, the walk is a very positive, high energy, happy fun day," Attendees at last year's wine Fund raise a glass to Julie W. Scotch" event will include gourmet food stations positioned throughout the Kenilworth club with samples of wines from around the world, Chicago-area craft beers and a variety of single malt scotch products. A live jazz band will provide music, and the event will also feature a live auction and silent auction of tickets to sporting events and sports memorabilia, entertainment items and collections of JULIE W. SCHAFFNER OVARIAN CANCER FUND PHOTO tasting fundraiser for the Julie W.

Schaffner Ovarian Cancer Schaffner. By Brian L. Cox Special to the Tribune Wilmette resident Tom Schaffner believes that information can saves lives. Before his wife, Julie W. Schaffner, died of ovarian cancer in 2010, she talked at length about how to save or extend women's lives by increasing public awareness of the symptoms and early detection of ovarian cancer and provide resources to support innovative cutting-edge research.

Last year, organizers of the Julie Schaffner Ovarian Cancer Fund held a wine tasting event in Wilmette that raised $25,000. This year the nonprofit is expanding its fundraising and awareness campaign in an event called "WineHops-Scotch" being held Friday at the Kenilworth Club. wine and scotch products. More information about the event is available at jwsfund.org. Schaffner also said the event will also serve as a ldckoff of sorts for a series of meetings the nonprofit will host throughout the North Shore in coming months to raise awareness among women of the early symptoms of ovarian cancer.

In addition, funds raised by the organization will help pay.