Family starts Golden Lights Half Marathon and Family 5K
GREENWICH — An issue touching the heart of Greenwich families runs throughout the newest race through town: pediatric cancer.
The first Golden Lights Half Marathon and Family 5K took off from the shore of Greenwich Point Park Sunday morning. Greenwichbased Golden Lights Foundation plans to hold the race every year, the foundation’s founder Gregg Pauletti said.
Co-founder Heidi Pauletti, his wife, told Greenwich Time before the event that she was most excited “to see the impact on the general public when they gain more awareness about pediatric cancer.”
The Paulettis started the foundation in 2020 after their daughter Willa was in remission for around a year following treatment for Neuroblastoma, a type of cancer that affects primarily young children.
Heidi Pauletti said the community support they experienced after Willa’s diagnosis was a motivating factor for forming the foundation.
“Fundamentally, our goal is to move research forward so other families can know that their children are receiving the most effective and least toxic treatments available,” she said.
The Paulettis chose the name “Golden Lights Foundation,” pulling from the golden color of childhood cancer awareness and the bright attitudes of the young patients they hope to help.
“The kids are the ones who are the happiest. Even the ones who are going through hell always have this light smile on their face, and they light up,” Gregg Pauletti said. “We also wanted to be a foundation that serves as a light in terms of identifying research projects and their funding needs… so we can find more cures.”
The couple knew a year ago they wanted to host some type of event. First Selectman Fred Camillo declared Sept. 25, 2021, “Rare Cancer Day” in Greenwich.
In the spring, a neighbor with experience organizing races volunteered to help the foundation create a race. Pauletti set his eyes on September, pediatric cancer awareness month.
The money raised Sunday will go to research projects the foundation identified at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
“One thing that sets us apart from others is that the projects that we fund are found through relationships that we have with them specifically,” Heidi Pauletti said. “We don’t just fund research or doctors randomly as a way to give; we cultivate the relationship and work really hard to identify the areas in need of funding that will have the greatest impact on the lives of as many children as possible.”
Gregg Pauletti said the treatment that worked for his daughter was “experimental,” not yet FDA-approved.
“It basically saved our daughter’s life, and we wanted to figure out some way to kind of allow that to happen for other families,” he said.
Clinical trials provide hope for families and an improving prognosis, he said.
Camillo said Pauletti has done “wonderful work” for other cancer-related charities in town. Camillo put the Sunday race on his ‘to do’ calendar, since pediatric cancer has been a concern of his for many years. His sister Donna Marie died at age 11 of leukemia.
“You want to keep looking until there’s a cure for everybody, and that goes for every single affliction,” he said.
The Paulettis work to connect with local families with children undergoing treatment, which spurs on the foundation’s mission even more so, Camillo said.