Taylor Ceepo Fund Created 4 Months After 22-Year-Old’s Death at Cleveland Half Marathon – runnersworld.com

After 22-year-old Taylor Ceepo died while running in the Cleveland Half Marathon on May 19, family and friends came together and talked about the best ways to honor her memory. They reflected on how Ceepo uplifted them personally, as well as the Medina and Cleveland communities in Ohio.

The best way to keep her memory alive, they believed, was to keep the causes she cared about moving forward. A fund in her honor could help them do just that.

Four months after Ceepo died, her friends and family created a memorial fund in her name at the , which is now open for donations.

“Taylor’s main focus was her family, friends, continuing education and helping others,” her mother, Jackie Ceepo, told Runner’s World. “We all discussed how this beautiful, intelligent, athletic, and caring soul’s legacy could be continued as if she was here.”

The memorial fund will benefit the causes and organizations that Ceepo cared about, including education, community, children, and physical fitness. It will also support organ donation, as Ceepo was a .

“One of our goals is that Taylor’s legacy lives on for generations to come,” her mother added. “We feel the Cleveland Foundation provides the opportunity and resources to help us achieve our goal. The folks we have been working with there have been knowledgeable, caring and, frankly, incredible.”

The family also wants to educate others about cardiomyopathy, an undiagnosed heart condition that contributed to Ceepo’s collapse during her race. The irregularity, which creates a thickened heart muscle and makes it harder for the heart to pump blood to the rest of the body, is often difficult to detect and diagnose.

“While Taylor was very passionate about physical fitness, she wasn’t a ‘seasoned’ long distance runner,” her mom said. “We highly recommend a thorough physical and cardiac work-up for any adult, teenager or child prior to participating in any high intensity physical activity.”

Courtesy of Ceepo Family

Remembering Taylor

The Cleveland race was Ceepo’s first half marathon, but she was a lifelong athlete, playing soccer for four years at St. Vincent-St. Mary high school in Akron and later on the team for Walsh University in North Canton, Ohio, where she earned a degree in biology with double minor in psychology and chemistry just weeks before her death. A scholarship athlete, she had dreams of attending medical school.

While at school, Ceepo also participated in events that supported the community, such as Walsh University’s Dance Marathon, which raises funds for the Akron Children’s Hospital, as well as the Children’s Miracle Network.

Ceepo’s community involvement and love of sports play a large role in how her friends and family are raising money for her memorial fund—the ongoing events around Ohio reflect those passions.

On Saturday, the St. Vincent-St. Mary’s soccer teams will play a doubleheader in Akron. On October 5, the Walsh University women’s soccer team will play at their field in North Canton. The proceeds from both games will go to the fund.

The following month, on November 30, Fat Little Buddies Tavern in Olmsted Township will donate a percentage of the sales from the Ohio State-Michigan football game to the fund.

And across the country, runners are still using the hashtag #RunforTaylor to remember her and support the events.

The Internationals Girls Soccer Club in Medina, which Ceepo joined at age 8 and was a member until age 18, will host several events in her name, including annual tournaments and the club’s popular annual Christmas party for current and past members. Her younger sister, Bella, still plays for the club.

“We still feel Taylor’s presence and miss her every day,” Keri Sarver, the club’s director of coaching, told Runner’s World by phone. “We’ve been doing things to keep her memory alive.”

Club members created purple T-shirts—in her favorite color—to wear at events during the summer, and they also made purple wristbands to wear during games on the road.

“The idea is to keep her legacy going,” Sarver said. “We want to educate players and parents not only about cardiomyopathy, but who Taylor was and what she meant to our club.”

To make a tax-deductible donation to the Taylor Paige Ceepo Memorial Fund, visit the , call the foundation at 216-685-2006, or mail a check to the foundation.