Virtual 5K, Community Block Party Planned In Memory Of Oak Park Boy

Press release from Team Owen:

Family and friends across the world will band together Oct. 1 in honor of a 6-year-old Oak Park boy to raise funding and awareness to rare and devastating pediatric brain cancer.

Over 400 runners are already signed up for the Team Owen virtual 5k event for Owen Shaker Petrzelka, who died tragically in October 2020, only months after being diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, a rare and aggressive pediatric brain tumor with no cure and few treatment options. DIPG affects an estimated 200-400 children each year in the U.S. and Europe and accounts for roughly 10-15% of brain tumors in children.

In addition to being a third-generation Oak Park native, Owen was a proud student at Oak Park’s Horace Mann Elementary School. This year’s Team Owen run features a friendly battle of Oak Park schools, with all elementary schools competing to raise the most money for DIPG research. The winning school will receive the Ninja Trophy in Owen’s honor.

The run will also feature a daylong block party on the 900 block of North Grove Avenue, hosted by Owen’s parents, Amanda Shaker and Adam Petrzelka, and siblings Sydney, 5, and Wyatt, 3. From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., the block party will feature activities for kids, face painting, crafts, along with food, snow cones, cotton candy and other delights. The block party will also feature Oak Park DJ Duke Supreme and three local bands: The Island of Misfit Toys, The Hoyle Brothers, and the Mann Fam Band.

“With this year’s 3rd annual Team Owen run, we are creating a celebration that Owen would have wanted us to have,” said Owen’s mom, Amanda Shaker. “This will be a day about coming together, and a way for our family to say thank you to the Oak Park community that supported Owen and continue to support Sydney and Wyatt and our entire family.”

The run will benefit the ChadTough Defeat DIPG Foundation, which was founded by the Carr and Mosier families, who tragically lost their children to DIPG. Since its founding seven years ago, the Foundation has committed more than $20 million to 48 researchers across 31 institutions fighting pediatric brain cancer research across the globe.

For more information and to spread the word about Team Owen and his courageous battle against DIPG, visit teamowen.org.

This press release was produced by Team Owen. The views expressed here are the author's own.