Wilkes University’s AFROTC Detachment 752 will host the Third Annual Kisses to Cancer 5K on Saturday, Sept. 28. The Homecoming weekend 5K honors Major Candice Adams Ismirle, an alumna of Wilkes University, who passed away from triple negative breast cancer in 2016.
The race begins at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28 and participants should arrive no later than 8:45 a.m. Parking is available behind the Henry Student Center. Packet pick-up is scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 27, on the first floor of the Henry Student Center. Race day pick-up is available on a limited basis from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 28, near the starting area at the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center for the Performing Arts, 239 South River Street, Wilkes-Barre. Runners will travel a loop to Nesbitt Park and back to campus.
Adams Ismirle was born into a military family and chose to continue the tradition. When she graduated from Wilkes University in 2003, she was commissioned into the Air Force as a Second Lieutenant serving as a public affairs officer. She met her future husband, pilot Ryan Ismirle, in 2008. In 2010, Adams Ismirle was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. She continued to serve through chemotherapy, remission and recurrence until medical retirement in 2015. Later that year, she and her husband welcomed twin boys via surrogacy. Adams Ismirle passed in 2016, Her memory lives on through her sons, Rafe and Ryder, and all those she connected with in her life.
“The event is a tribute to the courage and bravery of a warrior who fought two battles: one for her country and one against breast cancer,” said organizer Major Joshua Robinson. This will be the third annual run for the community, a chance for everyone to be reminded to celebrate the lives we have alongside the fight to cure cancer.
Runners should REGISTER ONLINE by Friday, Sept. 27. Price ranges from $20 to $35. All proceeds from the event will go to Relay for Life, the Valor Clinic and Wilkes University Gold Bar Club.
