Emily Menard’s days are rarely quiet. With two young kids and everything that comes with it, life moves fast, and there isn’t always time to stop and sit with grief. So she runs. Somewhere in those miles, she’s found a kind of space that doesn’t really exist anywhere else in her day.
It’s where she can think about her mom, Sandy, who passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2022, and hold onto the memories that shape who she is and the kind of person she continues to become. This spring, that time stretched a little farther, 13.1 miles through Chicago, as she ran with Project Purple in her mom’s honor.
Through Seasons of Change
Emily Menard never imagined herself as a runner. Growing up in Highland, Illinois, she played sports like softball and volleyball, but running was always the part she dreaded. “I used to absolutely just not enjoy it at all,” she admits. “Even in school, the mile runs, I just didn’t like it.”
That feeling followed her into college at SIU Carbondale. Running wasn’t something she sought out or enjoyed; it was simply not her thing. But after graduating, something shifted.
At first, it was casual. Running became a way to stay active, to “get steps in,” something to do rather than something to pursue. It wasn’t structured, and it wasn’t serious. That changed after she became a mom.
With two young children, now four and three, Emily’s life quickly became what she describes as “busy and chaotic.” Somewhere within that chaos, running transformed. It became intentional. “It was a way for me to just do something for me,” she shares.
She had done 5Ks in the past, mostly just to see if she could finish them. But after having her kids, it shifted into something more intentional. She started setting goals, tracking progress, and challenging herself. “It became a thing of what time I can get this time—let’s try to improve each time.” Five miles turned into six, and soon she began to wonder how much farther she could push herself.
That question led her to her first half marathon in the spring of 2025 in St. Louis. She finished, but not in the way she had hoped. Without fully understanding how to train, she pushed too hard, too often, and ended up with shin splints and injury. By mile 10, she had to stop and walk, struggling to make it to the finish line.
Instead of discouraging her, the experience did the opposite. “I kept telling myself, ‘Emily, you can do this.’ I knew I could do it,” she remembers. So she took a step back, educated herself on training, and adjusted her approach. And she returned stronger that fall. In November 2025, she ran her second half marathon, again in St. Louis, this time with confidence and control. “It was like my redemption moment,” she says. “It was the moment I needed.”
But running had already become more than performance or progress. Around the same time she began taking it seriously, her life was changing in ways she could not control.
Love and Loss
In early 2021, Emily’s mom, Sandy, began experiencing stomach pain. What initially seemed minor, something like a not-so-serious hernia, quickly escalated. After a visit to the emergency room, her family received devastating news: pancreatic cancer.
From diagnosis to her passing, everything moved quickly. Though she was initially given a prognosis of six to eight weeks, Sandy fought for ten months, undergoing intense chemotherapy and pushing through unimaginable challenges.
“She fought tooth and nail to have more time,” Emily says. That fight left a lasting impression. Amid all of this, Emily’s life was also reaching a major turning point. After years of infertility and loss, she gave birth to her first son in June 2021. On the very day Sandy was scheduled for chemotherapy, Emily went into labor.
Her mom still made it a priority to be there. She was already at the hospital receiving chemo, but came down to meet her grandson despite everything. “She was in the room about 20 minutes after he was born,” Emily recalls. “She was the first family member to meet him. I will never forget that.”
“It was a kind of roller coaster of a few years,” she adds. “Having a successful pregnancy and having my mom’s diagnosis in the midst of it all, it was crazy.” Six months later, on January 28, 2022, Sandy sadly passed away, right after Emily had found out she was pregnant with her second child.
It was in the years following her mom’s passing, and the birth of her second child, that running took on a new role. “For me, it’s my outlet,” Emily explains. “I try to be really intentional about using that time to think about my mom. It’s the time when I can shut everything else out.”
Between motherhood, work, and daily responsibilities, time to process grief is rare. Running became the place where she could make space for it. “When I’m out there, I try to think about her,” she says. “Replay memories, think about things we did together. It’s been really healing.”
Her Reason to Run
To understand why Emily is running, one has to understand who her mom was. Sandy, whose middle name was fittingly Joy, was defined by her love for her family. “She was full of joy,” Emily says. “It was very fitting.”
As one of five children, Emily grew up in a home where everything centered around family. Sandy gave everything she had to her children and later to her grandchildren. “We were her world. Her absolute world,” Emily shares. “She would do anything for us.”
That love showed up in big and small ways. She helped build homes alongside her husband, even living in a camper while renovating. “She gave up so many things to make sure we had what we needed to make sure we were happy,” Emily says. And she embraced being a grandmother with her whole heart. “That was her life,” Emily reflects. She was also funny, with a laugh that Emily can still hear clearly.
But perhaps the most defining part of Sandy’s character was her resilience. “She fought for everything,” Emily says. “Not just during cancer—her whole life.” That mindset continues to shape Emily’s approach to running and to life. So when Emily decided to take on the Chicago Half Marathon this spring, it wasn’t just about the distance. It was about honoring her mom and carrying forward the same resilience and love for others that defined the way she lived.
When Sandy was still alive, Emily began looking into charities focused on pancreatic cancer, hoping to find a way to give back. From there, she and her family started participating in walks for pancreatic cancer. But Emily also wanted to connect her love of running more directly to her mom and to that cause. When she came across Project Purple and saw they were involved with the Chicago race, it clicked.
She hadn’t run for a charity in her first two half marathons in St. Louis, but looking back, she’s glad it worked out that way. “I needed to gauge my skill set,” she says. Now, knowing what she is capable of and also now running for a cause that is so meaningful to her, she adds that it makes it feel different this time around: “I want to do it right. I want to do it well.”
On the Road to Chicago
During her training, Emily felt different. Physically, she felt stronger. Mentally, she’s more driven. “I think I’m expecting more of myself,” she admits. But balancing it all hasn’t been simple.
Between raising two young children and managing the pace of everyday life, running requires planning, flexibility, and a lot of adjusting along the way: early mornings, lunch breaks, or the quiet pockets of a busy week. She credits much of that to her supportive husband, T.J., who helps keep things steady at home so she can carve out time to train.
Even then, nothing about the process is perfectly linear. Some runs still come on days when she feels too tired to keep going, when stopping would be easier. In those moments, she finds herself thinking about her mom and the way she carried herself through illness. “If she can fight like she did,” Emily says, “I can go out and do this run. I’m challenging myself because she challenged herself.”
That sense of purpose has only been deepened by the support surrounding her. The response to her fundraising surprised her more than anything. “It was very unexpected,” she says. “I thought I’d be happy just hitting a bare minimum, but seeing the support people have given me, it’s really cool.”
More than the numbers, it’s the meaning behind it that has stayed with her. “To know that all these people believe in me, and it’s such an inspiring feeling,” she shares. “They know how important this cause is to me, and they’re willing to support me with that. It’s really amazing.”
Donations have come from people she hasn’t spoken to in years, as well as from family and close friends who leave messages she doesn’t always expect to see. Some mention how proud they are of her, while others reflect on what her mom would think of what she’s doing now. “It’s really touching,” she says. “Every donation that comes in makes me stop what I’m doing. I just take a moment and feel so thankful for everybody.”
At the Finish Line
When she stepped up to the starting line in Chicago, Emily knew some nerves would naturally be there. But what she keeps coming back to is the moment after. “I keep thinking about the moment that I’m done,” she says. Her family was there waiting, including her dad, her two sisters, her husband, and her two kids. Some of her family members, including her brothers, won’t be there physically, but she knows they were following along, cheering her on, and celebrating from afar.
“I am envisioning crossing the finish line to them,” she said before the race. “It’s going to be really cool to see this through, hopefully finish the way I want to, and do it with them there physically supporting me. It’s going to be a really special feeling.”
Having her two boys there made the moment especially meaningful, as she wanted them to see what effort and commitment look like in real time. She hopes they take the same lesson she’s carried from her own parents, and now tries to model for them through her running journey, that if you set your mind to something, you go for it. “I hope they see that,” she says.
But it’s also something deeper than that. Through this race, they’re beginning to learn more about their grandmother in a different way. Emily has tried to keep Sandy present in their lives, even without direct memories. “I just hope they know, and I try to remind them of that—Grandma Sandy loved them,” she says. Her mother never got to meet her second son, and only had six months with her first, but she wants her kids to know that her love was there regardless.
And as she runs those 13 miles, she knows she’ll be carrying her mom with her too, not just in memory, but in the way she would show up in moments like this. At first, Emily laughs at the thought of what Sandy might say. “She’d probably say to me, ‘This is a really long run, what are you doing?’” she says. But then she gets more certain. Her mom was always a motivator, someone who pushed others forward with a kind of steady confidence. “She would tell me I can do this,” Emily says. “Don’t think about anything else, just go out there and do it.”
More than anything, though, she thinks her mom would remind her to enjoy every single moment. Sandy lived with a simple philosophy: if something makes you happy, you go for it. “She would tell me to have fun, be happy, and make some good memories along the way,” Emily says.
When the Miles Are Done
On a broader note, Emily knows she is not just doing this for herself. It is for a cause that she hopes will eventually help others facing pancreatic cancer, and for a future where families don’t have to go through what hers did. The funds she has raised feel meaningful in that way, tied to research and the possibility of earlier detection and better outcomes down the line. “It just means a lot to me in that sense that maybe what I’ve done can help someone down the road,” she shares.
What also makes the experience meaningful is knowing she won’t be alone in it. “Doing it with a team of people who are all running for someone, it’s really special,” she says. “They’re all running in honor of someone, and I think it’s going to be really cool to be with others who understand that.”
But just as important to her is how her mom is remembered. Not only through illness, but through who she was before it. “I think it’s easy for cancer to become the story,” she says, “but there was so much more to her life than that.” That perspective has also shaped how she moves through grief. For Emily, it’s not about moving on from loss, but learning how to carry it. Her advice is simple, but honest: Feel what you’re feeling. Ask for help. Don’t try to push it down.
And after Chicago is said and done, Emily is already thinking about how to stay connected to the community that brought her into this space. Through Project Purple, fundraising, and ongoing events, perhaps one day a full marathon, she remains committed to pancreatic cancer advocacy in a way that feels steady: defined not by one race, but by continued presence. “It’s been really rewarding,” she says. “I know I’ll keep staying involved.”
To support Emily’s run in honor of Sandy and to help raise awareness for pancreatic cancer, donate to her fundraising page here.
If you’d like to run or participate in an event of your own for Project Purple, visit our events page.
