Weight-loss-a-thon to benefit cancer patient

Kathy Pound begins her weight loss journey.
Kathy Pound begins her weight loss journey.

— “What would you do for a friend?” was the question Kathy Pound asked herself when she learned her close friend Gina Keller was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer.

While many people might have been stumped by the helplessness of watching a friend battle cancer, Pound found a creative way to support Keller through a weightloss-a-thon.

Keller, of Rogers, is the wife of the Oakdale Junior High football coach. She is an energetic, dynamite of a person who works two jobs and is always going out of her way to care for someone else whether it is a friend who has lost a grandparent or a homeless kitten living behind a dumpster, Pound said.

“Gina is just a quality, special person,” she said.

After losing six loved ones in the past five years to cancer, Pound was not about to stand by while Keller takes month-long chemotherapy treatments at UAMS in Little Rock. The treatments will require Keller to rent an apartment in Little Rock while she also maintains her northwest Arkansas residence.

Pound, who works as a clerk at E-Z Mart in Decatur, did not have a lot of financial resources to start a fundraiser - even a bake sale requires money for ingredients - so she took stock of what she did have: excess weight and a lot of people who cared about her.

“What can I do to show my friend that I love her?” she asked herself.

Pound has started a Pennies for Pounds weightloss-a-thon, with the goal of losing 80 pounds andraising enough money to cover Keller’s rent for a month. She is documenting her journey on her Pennies for Pounds Facebook page.

Participants can sponsor her for each pound of weight she loses. So far Pound has enough sponsors to earn $25 per pound.

“That’s better than filet mignon,” she said with a twinkle in her eye.

Pound, who is diabetic, is losing weight the healthy way and following a low carb diet. A good friend, Pat Talbot, owner of It’s OK Yoga in Rogers, has donated yoga classes and Pound is also taking water aerobic classes at John Brown University.

Pound’s dream is to sit next to Keller at the swimming pool next summer,herself 80 pounds lighter and Keller in remission. While she can’t take away Keller’s suffering, Pound is ready to fight for her friend. She has put a “GK” sticker - left over from the helmets of the junior high football team Keller’s husband coaches - on her refrigerator to remind her that “only food for Gina goes in there.”

An account for Gina Keller has been set up at Arvest Bank and donations will be deposited directly into the account.

In the past two weeks, Pound has already lost more than 10 pounds. She plans to continue until the weight is gone and Keller has recovered.

“People say, ‘What can somebody like me do?’ This is what somebody like me can do,” Pound said.

Sports, Pages 10 on 10/05/2011