Up-lifting event raises $7,000 for Edmond girl

EDMOND — They may have the strength of an ox, but they showed they can have a heart of gold.

More than 60 police officers and recruits, and some firefighters and serious weightlifters, were in Edmond Saturday to support an 8-year-old girl at the Leukemia Lift-A-Thon.

Brian Attebery, owner of Results Fitness and Nutrition Center in Edmond, put the event together to help his longtime friend Edmond police officer Jason Stearns. Stearns’s daughter, Kennedy, is battling leukemia.

"We were able to raise about $5,500 the day of the event,” Attebery said. "With the money previously donated, that brings the total to about $7,000.”

He said the participants were dedicated to helping a family in need. "One officer was doing 100-pound curls and he was getting tired at one point. But he said, ‘If she can do chemotherapy, I can certainly do more reps to help her,’” Attebery said.

The inaugural event managed to raise awareness of the disease, Attebery said. He plans to expand it next year by adding a walk and more activities for children.

"I’m definitely going to have the Oklahoma City recruits back again. They had a good time with the encouragement of their instructors,” he said.

To donate

Donations to the Kennedy Stearns Fund can be made at the gym or at Tinker Federal Credit Union at Danforth Road and Kelly Avenue.