Resident Thankful for Support Received to Finish WIU's Annual Fallen Soldiers 5K

With the support of her friends — Michelle Terry (second from left), academic advisor, WIU College of Business and Technology, Paula Rhodes (far right), a former WIU employee, and Macomb resident Andrea Ratterman — Debbie Carter (far left) completed the Western Illinois University Fallen Soldiers 5K this year. Carter has had 11 surgeries on her knee over the past few years and has only been able to put weight on it since April of this year. 

Newswise, Macomb, December 26, 2016— Western Illinois University's annual Fallen Soldiers 5K Run/Walk is one of the many ways the University gives thanks to the men and women who have served our country. Every year since the event was established in 2012, the proceeds raised by the race—which drew close to 550 participants this year—are put toward Western's Fallen Soldiers Scholarship, which honors WIU alumni Capt. Derek Dobogai and Lt. Col. Robert Baldwin, both killed in the line of duty.

Dobogai, who graduated from Western in 2003 with a bachelor's degree in law enforcement and justice administration, was among the 14 U.S. soldiers aboard a Black Hawk helicopter that crashed Aug. 22, 2007, in northern Iraq.

Baldwin, who earned a bachelor's degree in industrial technology from WIU in 1993, was killed Sept. 21, 2010, when his Blackhawk UH-60 helicopter carrying international troops crashed during combat operations in the Zabul province of Afghanistan.


This year, Western's Fallen Soldiers 5K (held October 22), too, provided a way for one local participant, Debbie Carter of Macomb, to show her thanks to her friends and to her doctors, who all helped make it possible for her to take part and even finish the 5K in under two hours.

"I have had 11 surgeries, and I was in a wheelchair for three years because of my bad knee. I didn't even have a knee for a while. In October 2015, I had my knee put back in for the third time, and even after that, I still couldn't do any full weight bearing on it for a couple of months.

“Finally, in mid-December, when I went to the doctor at Mayo Clinic, he gave me the okay to put some weight on it and walk. Unfortunately, the next morning, I fell and fractured my ankle and my knee again. I was non-weight bearing again until April of this year," Carter explained.

But with the support of her friends Michelle Terry, academic advisor, WIU College of Business and Technology, Paula Rhodes, a former WIU employee, and Macomb resident Andrea Ratterman, Carter planned to walk the 5K this year. They started walking regularly in July to get Carter ready for the course, which winds around and through WIU's hilly campus.

"My friends are the only ones who knew I was planning to do this," Carter said. "I didn't even tell my husband, John, or my son, Zachary."

Carter noted that she is proud of herself for completing the race, and she is especially thankful to her friends, as well as a few individuals, including Campus Recreation graduate assistants, members of Western's softball team and students from The Crossing Fuel group (in Macomb), who took the time to walk with her and her friends during the event.

Terry noted that not only did the members of the softball team join them while they walked the course, but several individuals, also from the WIU and Macomb community, cheered her on as she completed the course, which she did in one hour and 57 minutes and 26 seconds.

When talking to Terry about Carter's accomplishment, she couldn't help from getting emotional.

"It was amazing! Students seemed to come out of nowhere and asked, 'Can we join you?' I just think it's an example of what being a Leatherneck is all about," Terry said.

Vian Neally, assistant director of marketing at WIU Campus Recreation and one of the individuals at Western who helps organize the Fallen Soldiers 5K, described Carter as a "finisher" and said the support she witnessed the community provided Debbie gave her "goosebumps."

"While Debbie was still walking the course, I was with members of Western's All Volunteer Effort (WAVE) to take down the U.S. flags that line the course.

“But, as we turned the corner by Waggoner Hall to start down Western Avenue to take down the flags, we saw Debbie and all her supporters.

“One of the softball players escorting her ran up to us and asked if we could leave the flags up until Debbie passed by. Harv Draughan, from the Bushnell Patriot Flag Crew, and I asked all the volunteers to hold off taking down the flags until Debbie had passed.

“We cheered her on until she turned the corner onto University Drive, near the last part of the course. I radioed the Spencer Student Recreation Center and asked them to find people to go cheer her on as she crossed the finish line," Neally explained. "What a huge success story!"

Because of her successful completion of the 2016 Fallen Soldiers 5K, Carter said she and her family are planning to take part in the event together next year.

The 2016 race raised more than $17,115, topping last year's total. More than 530 individuals registered to participate. Since inception of WIU's Fallen Soldiers 5K in 2012, more than $92,000 has been raised for the Fallen Soldier Scholarship in honor of Dobogai and Baldwin.