US Perimeter Runner, Cancer Survivor, Set to Pass Through Avon in May

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AVON – A grandmother who hopes to inspire with running feats many think are impossible will be traveling through Avon this spring on her coastal running quest.

National fitness icon and running legend Helene Neville, 54, will run through Avon on May 26. Helene has run California to Florida, Vancouver, Canada to Tijuana, Mexico and Florida to Maine. While running those miles, she still has the energy and determination to share her story and promote health and wellness. Helene has shared her story at more than 100 hospitals, schools, cancer centers, military bases and fire departments to date.

Bringing Helen through Avon will be her path on the last leg of the continental perimeter run. On May 1st in St. Stephen’s, Canada, Helene will begin her 3,700 mile journey from east to west along the northern portion of the U.S.

“I believe that we can restore the health of America,” says Neville. “But it’s up to you and me to take positive action to ensure that the future is everything it can possibly be.”

She started running marathons after a cancer scare in the 1990′s. The medical intrusion in her life involved three brain surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation. Neville will kick off her East to West run in Maine on May 1, and continue down towards the Great Lakes region reaching Avon on the 26th of May via US 20. This is the final leg of Neville’s journey, an accomplishment 6 years and 9,767 miles in the making. The journey began in 2010 at the age of 50, Neville first ran across the Southern US from Eastern Florida to Western California and was the first person to complete the feat in the heat of summer.

Neville never intended to cross America for a second time. However after she was diagnosed with T-Cell lymphoma in 2011 and receiving treatment, she felt the urge to inspire more people stating that her journey was not complete. Since then, Neville has ran border to border in 2013 from Canada to Mexico. Along her third run from Northern Main to Southern Florida in 2014, she carried the ashes of her recently departed brother who passed away unexpectedly. 2015 will be Neville’s final run, and she will be the first cancer survivor, nurse, and grandmother to contiguously run the United States.