He’ll also be running for his friends who can’t participate because they too were killed in combat, and each step Adams takes will be dedicated to a soldier’s life lost.
Adams, a Rutgers–Camden student, is president of Veterans for Education, a student advocacy group that is sponsoring the Jeremy Kane Benefit Run on Sunday.
Kane, a Cherry Hill resident, was killed in January by a suicide bomb attack while on patrol in the Helmand Province in Afghanistan. The 22-year-old was a lance corporal in the United States Marine Corps and was a criminal justice major at the Camden Campus of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
“When I was in Iraq, I lost a couple of my good friends,” Adams says. “When I heard about Jeremy, it brought back all those feelings. I just want to do whatever I can to help because I know what it’s like to have a friend killed and I can’t imagine what it’s like for a family.”
A Palmyra resident and Palmyra High School graduate, Adams served in the Army from 2002-05. He was wounded in combat on Oct. 21, 2004 when he was ambushed and shot in his left leg and his left hand.
“What happened to Jeremy makes me think about my own sacrifice,” Adams says. “As a fellow veteran, it’s always hard to deal with casualties. I just want to show my support for him and his family and his sacrifice in a positive way.”
Veterans for Education hopes to raise enough money to design and build a memorial at the Rutgers–New Brunswick Campus that will honor Rutgers graduates who died in combat during the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Adams says about 350 people have already registered for the April 25 run, including a large number of veterans. Each participant has been asked to raise at least $10 through sponsorships or donations.
One of the participants is George O’Sullivan, a Marine corporal from Virginia who served alongside Kane in Afghanistan and was with Kane when he was killed.
“He was an amazing Marine and person,” O’Sullivan says of Kane. “He always pushed himself as hard as he could and inspired others. More than anything, Jeremy was funny. His levity was instrumental in calming others and allowed them to keep things in perspective.”
Jeremy Kane’s mother, Melinda Kane, will address the participants before they begin the two-mile run, which begins at Cherry Hill High School East at 10 a.m. and ends at Congregation M’kor Shalom on Evesham Road, which was Kane’s place of worship.
Registration begins and 9 a.m. and Melinda Kane will speak at 9:30 a.m.
“I want everyone to know what they’re running for,” Adams says. “This was a soldier who volunteered to go. He didn’t have to go. He made the ultimate sacrifice. This run is a small token of our appreciation. We can’t do enough for our veterans. This is a way for us to honor his sacrifice for our country. Everyone should be thankful for what he did.”
Media Contact: Ed Moorhouse
856-225-6759
E-mail: ejmoor@camden.rutgers.edu