Saturday, July 16, 2022 Team Arnav's 5K Run, Walk, Bike (virtual only) Event
It’s a hot July morning – July 24 to be exact. As you pull into Moravian Academy’s Merle-Smith campus, you’re met with a symbol of the community today represents – a pickup truck, its bed filled with eager young volunteers outfitted in their matching blue shirts, enthusiastic about the significance and excitement the day ahead holds; they direct you to go back further into the campus.
As you proceed further down the drive and take in your surrounding atmosphere, this community shines even brighter, relentlessly: a wave of blue shirts filled with teachers and their former students, deep-rooted family friendships, and new faces this event’s mission and meaning have drawn in.
All these people – young and old – are here for one, common purpose: to support the Team Arnav Foundation in its efforts to eradicate Osteosarcoma. They are at the annual Team Arnav 5k event.
As you enter the registration area, you see the hard work, spirit, and dedication of a group of selfless individuals. merchandise shops, water stations, signs, and smiling faces surround a start line that participants eagerly crowd around. For months, this group of volunteers has been hard at work planning this day, publicizing it, and making it happen. In this group of volunteers are the friends, family, former teachers, and classmates of Arnav Krishna. They are led by Arnav’s twin brother, Dhruv, and their parents, Sunita and Nitin, who have committed to eradicating Osteosarcoma as their life’s work. Arnav was diagnosed with Pediatric Osteosarcoma in 2016 and fought a heroic and difficult, two-year battle with the disease before leaving us too soon in December 2018.
In his fight, Arnav showed his persistence, courage, and optimism while teaching those around him the definition of relentless positivity. These aspects of his spirit and persona carry on and shine through the actions of volunteers and serve as the roots for events like these. They motivate his friends and family to carry on his legacy and in so doing, to spread relentless positivity to others.
See it for yourself – consider joining us for our third annual 5k Saturday, July 16 to assist us in reaching our goal of $50k raised toward the fight against Osteosarcoma. [Contributed by: Devon Helmer, Team Arnav Foundation, Editorial Lead]