Thanks for visiting this page! Please read on to learn more about all of our Running for Nana endeavors.

2024:  7th Annual ACT Team Running for Nana!

2023: 6th Annual ACT Team Running for Nana!

2022: 5th Annual ACT Team Running for Nana!

It was such a joy to be with so many of you in May 2022 to Run for Nana and Achieving Cures Together (ACT) at the Colfax Marathon Weekend! It was such an honor to join together for a reception with the leaders of ACT and this pioneering research for C. difficile: Christie Lansdowne, Peter Westerhaus, and Dr. Alexander Khoruts. We gathered together as a community after the 5K race to hear from Dr. Khoruts Christie, and Peter regarding the current status of the research on C. difficile and where they are headed next. We were so grateful that these wonderful folks could come to Colorado!

2021: 4th Annual ACT Team Running for Nana!

The Running for Nana team continue to adapt during the pandemic along with the Colfax Marathon! This year was the first that the race weekend took place in October, and what a joy it was. We were also so delighted to welcome Christie Lansdowne, Executive Director of ACT, to Colorado!

Through our 2021 race, the Running for Nana community raised over $15,000 for ACT and the fight against C. difficile. That means that since Running for Nana started in 2016, this team raised over $100,000, supporting the advancement of cures and treatments for C. difficile and many other conditions. All of these funds have gone directly to ACT and the University of Minnesota’s Microbiota Therapeutics Program (MTP) – two leaders in C. difficile research. None of this would have been possible without each of you.

2020: 3nd Annual ACT Team Running for Nana! Virtual Version

In 2020, Running for Nana – like almost everything – went virtual in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite not being able to gather in person, you all still showed up in so many ways. We had our first Virtual Run for Nana, and heard from Dr. Alexander Khoruts, Peter Westerhaus, and Christie Lansdowne about the incredible work that ACT is doing to put an end to C. difficile. Many of you even completed a virtual run, walk, or handcycle for Nana! I know she was with us every step of the way, as always.

By the end of 2020, thanks to your generous support, the Running for Nana Community raised nearly $95,000 for the MTP and ACT since Running for Nana started. WOW.

• Over 800 patients with recurrent C. diff that could not be cured with standard antibiotics have been successfully treated (98% success rate) at the University of MN through the intestinal microbiota transplantation (IMT) procedure – all at no cost to the patient.
• The MTP developed capsules of the IMT treatment, making it more accessible.
• The team has increased their ability to provide the capsules for critical clinical trials. All therapeutic microbiota is manufactured in accordance with pharmaceutical protocols.
• There are five active research trials utilizing the treatment including the MATCH Trial, which is a multi-center, placebo-controlled study at the VA. This is the largest study of its kind. The team continues to explore uses for the treatment beyond C. diff, and the other active trials are for patients with advanced liver disease, autism, ulcerative colitis, and intensive chemotherapy.

2019: 2nd Annual ACT Team Running for Nana!

In 2019, 38 people joined our Second Annual Achieving Cures Together team at the Colfax Marathon weekend to “Run for Nana” and fight back against C. difficile, plus many more who came to cheer everyone on. Folks joined us from Colorado, Texas, Illinois, and Minnesota, including the founder of ACT, Peter Westerhaus, who ran the 10-mile race! By some great coincidence, Peter and I finished our races right around the same time.

The team grew so much last year that we qualified for our very own Achieving Cures Together tent in the Charity Village. It was an indescribable feeling to look around and see so many people that I love so much crowded together in those blue ACT shirts, getting to know each other and spreading awareness of C. diff. She would be so grateful to each and every one of you and absolutely floored by the progress you’re supporting to help end C. difficile.

Thanks to the incredible generosity of so many, we met and slightly surpassed our fundraising goal of $20,000! This meant that to date, because of people like you, we have raised over $80,000 for Achieving Cures Together and the Microbiota Therapeutics Program. These dollars are helping to fund meaningful, life-changing treatments for C. difficile and other awful conditions.

2018: 1st Annual ACT Team Running for Nana!

In 2018, we joined forces again to create the first ever Achieving Cures Together (ACT) team for the Colfax Marathon Weekend in Denver, CO! In total, 16 incredible people participated in either the 5K race on Saturday or the half marathon race on Sunday, and many more attended the races in support. We had runners join us from as far away as Texas and Minnesota, and we were able to gather together after the 5K race on Saturday.

2017: TC 10 Mile and Disney Wine and Dine

In the fall of 2017, we joined forces with Achieving Cures Together (ACT) to increase our impact. ACT was founded in 2016 by Peter Westerhaus, a recipient of the lifesaving FMT procedure from the University of Minnesota. Peter started ACT with one goal in mind: to support research that will help find cures.

Together, my mom and I ran the Twin Cities 10-Mile race in October with the ACT Team. Then in November, it was time for a back-to-back 10K and half marathon at the Disney World Wine and Dine weekend. Thanks to the support of incredible people like you, 2017 was another big year in the fight against C. diff.  Through partnership with ACT, the University of Minnesota had successfully treated over 100 patients suffering with recurrent C. difficile infection with the encapsulated microbiota that could not be cured with standard antibiotics. And, it was done at no cost to the patient.

Beginning in 2018, the team began providing the capsule treatment to the Veterans Administration to carry out a multi-center, placebo-controlled trial to treat C. difficile. Through partnership with ACT and supporters like you, the hope is that they will be able to make the treatment widely available to similar patients across the country, and also to continue exploring uses for the treatment beyond C. difficile.

We truly couldn’t have done this or crossed any finish line without you, and are so deeply grateful to each of you who continue to make this dream come true.

2016: Grandma’s Marathon

In June 2016, I ran Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, MN to fight against C. difficile in celebration of my best friend, my Nana. With you, we partnered with Dr. Khoruts and the University of Minnesota’s Microbiota Therapeutics Program (MTP) – one of the leading C. diff research centers in the country. With the help of philanthropic support like yours, the MTP was able to bring Dr. Matthew Hamilton, PhD, back to their team. Dr. Hamilton previously worked with the MTP to develop capsules of the freeze-dried fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT). Like the FMT procedure delivered through a colonoscopy, the capsules are used to fight C. difficile, and are even more simple, as they can be taken in one session without any special prep. At the time, the encapsulated preparation had already helped to cure ~60 people from otherwise refractory, recurrent C. difficile.