A year ago on April 4, Tolono's Cassie Roberts lost her friend/ inspiration Catina Brandt to ovarian cancer. Way too young.
Mrs. Brandt, a mother of four from Tulsa, Okla., was just 34.
They first met at Big Life — a women's mentoring group. The organization is based in Arkansas. Tonight, Roberts will run the Illinois Marathon 5K in her friend's honor.
"I saw the journey that she went on," Roberts said. "A lot of us in the mentoring group made a lot of health changes. We started eating healthy and getting more physically active.
"There are women in this group that have lost 50, 60 pounds.