CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Novant Health Charlotte Marathon, taking place Saturday morning, will help raise money for Novant’s Hemby Children’s Hospital.

Novant Health says race participants have contributed more than $250,000 to Hemby since the partnership began.

What You Need To Know

  •  This year's marathon will highlight six patients along the route

  •  10-year-old Palmer Goforth will represent mile 26 

  •  The marathon benefits Novant Health's Hemby Children's Hospital

This year, to further that partnership, Novant Health is sponsoring six miles on the course with Meaningful Miles current and former patients. Along the course, posters featuring the six patients will remind runners who their participation is benefiting. 

Mile 26, the conclusion of the marathon, will feature 10-year-old Palmer Goforth, who’s own battle with lymphoma serves as an inspiration to his family and the medical professionals tasked with treating him. 

“I think having our patients come back after they complete therapy, and see them thrive — doing well in school, being active, the family just supporting them, it keeps you going because it’s just a feeling of positivity,” said Dr. Joanne McManaman, Palmer’s lead oncologist at Hemby.

McManaman was assigned to Palmer’s case back in December of 2020, after he originally came to the hospital to have his appendix removed.

“That is not uncommon for childhood cancer, where a child will present to their regular pediatrician, or to the emergency room, because of a problem that’s caused by the cancer,” McManaman explained. 

Palmer was diagnosed with Stage 3 Burkitt lymphoma after his surgery.

“One of the most rapidly progressing cancers that we see in childhood cancer,” McManaman detailed. “A Burkitt lymphoma can double in size in 24 hours. He went from a child who had some belly pain, might be appendicitis, and within a week, his belly’s totally distended.”

Abnormal cells found in his lymph nodes after the appendectomy led McManaman and the care team at Hemby to the diagnosis. For Palmer’s mom, it put everything else in life on pause.

“Christmas was no longer the most important thing,” Brittany Goforth recalled. “It was just being together and having each other.” 

Brittany jokes now that she was actually very prepared for Christmas in 2020, and had completed most of her errands and other planning. But, sometimes life throws a bump in the road.

“I don’t think you can really put words to it, once you’ve gone through something like that and not knowing if you get to have your kid at the end, you just don’t take [it] for granted,” Brittany Goforth added.

McManaman and Palmer’s favorite nurse, Brooke Korty, spent the next four months administering tough rounds of chemotherapy. Palmer was often so sick he could not leave the hospital, and with the pandemic raging, had no extra visitors, including his older brother, Cameron. But, McManaman said the tough rounds of treatment were worth it.

“Right now we have a really good outcome for these children, whereas 30 years ago, we couldn’t have said the same thing,” McManaman said, crediting recent research in chemotherapy, immunotherapy and genetic-targeted treatments.

For a 10-year-old soccer player, it just feels good to feel good again.

“When I was in cancer, I couldn’t like see anyone, talk to my friends, or play anything. But now, I can play soccer and talk to my friends anytime,” said Palmer Goforth, now in remission and back on the soccer fields three times a week.

“I play center back and I like playing it, cause like all the pressure’s on me and like if I don’t stop it, it’s my fault,” the rambunctious 10-year-old said before a recent practice. “I play all year round, and I go to a lot of different places.”

Palmer is now in the 4th grade, takes his soccer very seriously and loves watching MLS Inter Miami, featuring soccer superstar Lionel Messi. He still goes to Hemby about every six months for testing, scans and check-ins on his disease.

McManaman said a patient is usually considered cancer free after five years, with the year following chemotherapy treatment for Burkitt the most anxiety-ridden for potential relapses. In the meantime, Palmer said he is excited to be at the finish line of Saturday’s marathon.

“I just get to see all the runners and just thank them for what they’re doing,” Palmer Goforth said.

Also at that finish line, as one grueling trek comes to its end, Palmer’s mom said she’s thankful to have finished theirs.

“It’s not a have to, I have to do this, it’s I get to. It’s a privilege to be his mom, it’s a privilege to run him to soccer, it’s a privilege to make his dinner. It’s a privilege to yell at him to hurry at night and take a shower and get to bed,” Brittany Goforth said. “I don’t take it for granted, because I almost couldn’t.”