The Families Behind the Run
The Gratitude Run is about a community coming together to support local families during life’s most challenging moments.
Meet The Morford Family (2025)
Chris Morford is Peters Township. A 2007 graduate of PTHS, he has spent his life giving back to the community that raised him - coaching local sports teams, volunteering his time to support adults in recovery, building a family with deep roots in the place he's always called home. He and his wife Shayna have two grade-school children and share their home with grandparents. Shayna volunteers at school. This is a family that shows up for others.
In 2022, Chris developed a cyst in his foot. For two years, doctors tried to treat it. It kept growing until he couldn't wear shoes. In 2024, they finally removed it - and discovered it was a rare and aggressive cancer. Surgeons removed all the skin from his foot and soft tissue up to his ankle. Months with a wound vacuum. Surgery after surgery. Chris couldn't walk.
In 2025, Chris had his leg amputated.
Doctors are clear: the cancer will return. They just don't know when or where. He will have full-body scans every three months for the rest of his life. Chris, who worked as a UPS driver, can no longer work. Disability insurance stopped paying. The family has had to fight their insurance company to cover basic medical supplies - including Chris's prosthetic leg.
Through all of it, the Morfords have not asked for much. They have leaned on each other, on their faith, and on the community Chris has spent his whole life serving. This Thanksgiving morning, it was Peters Township's turn to show up for one of their own.
Peters Township's Own
Meet The Applebaum Family (2025)
Noah and Ashley Applebaum moved to Peters Township in 2020 to plant roots - drawn here by the school district, the community, the kind of place where you raise kids and build a life. They did exactly that. Three grade-school children. Active in sports. Active in school. Exactly the kind of family that makes a neighborhood feel like home.
That same year, Noah was diagnosed with non-small cell lung carcinoma - despite never having smoked a day in his life. He had surgery, started medication, and fought back. Two years later, scans showed his lungs were clear. The kind of news that makes you exhale for the first time in years.
Then came a fall. A routine CT scan. And the news that the cancer had spread to his pelvis.
Noah switched medications. The side effects were relentless - infections, severe pain, open sores. And then, in June of 2025, a car accident. Another scan. Cancer in his shoulder, spine, ribs, pelvis, and an increased presence in his brain.
Noah is currently on an FDA fast-tracked clinical trial. He is still working full time as a respiratory therapist - having missed nearly two years of work over five years due to treatments and side effects. Ashley, a registered nurse, has been picking up extra shifts to cover mounting medical expenses. They are fighting to secure life insurance for their family, navigating a system that penalizes the sick for still being alive.
The Applebaums are strong, hopeful, and they deserve every bit of support this community can give. They moved here because they believed in Peters Township. Peters Township showed up to prove them right.
Still Standing
Meet The Serena Family (2025)
Jeff Serena faced what no one should ever have to face, a terminal cancer diagnosis - with a determination that left everyone around him in awe. When the Gratitude Run community rallied behind his family in 2024, Jeff made sure he was going to be there to see it.
Race morning that year was brutal. Cold, miserable weather that would have kept most people home. But hundreds of people showed up anyway - because that's what this community does. And so did Jeff. Despite everything his body was carrying, nothing was going to keep him from that morning. Not the diagnosis. Not the treatment. Not the weather.
He was there. Surrounded by his community. And they were there for him.
Jeff Serena passed away in 2026. But he saw what his community was made of. He felt it firsthand on a cold, rainy Thanksgiving morning when hundreds of neighbors refused to stay home.
Nothing was going to Stop Him
Help Us Continue the Impact
Every registration, donation, sponsorship, and volunteer makes this possible.
Together, we can continue showing up for families in our community - one Thanksgiving morning at a time.