A Run for a Family’s Future

by MYLES DANNHAUSEN JR. myles@ppulse.com

As the clock ticked down to the start of the Nicolet Bay 5K on May 7, 2022, and 565 runners huddled on Shore Road, a swarm of people in pink shirts gathered in the woods to the east of Shore Road.

The pink wave was Team Chrystal: 36 runners taking part in the Run for a Cause to support Chrystal Wittenmyer-Chartier, her husband and two children as Chrystal battled breast cancer. She was there with them, too, pushed by her friends to the starting line in a wheelchair. Those friends had raised $21,107 to help support the family’s move into a new home built by Habitat for Humanity in Baileys Harbor.

“It was extraordinary to see so many people come out and raise money,” said Deb Davis, who organized the effort. “It was very teary eyed in that group – little kids running with moms and dads, all ages of people. A number of the kids knew her children, and by that time, they knew their friend was going to lose their mom, so to see that was indescribable.”

By that time, Chrystal knew her chances of survival were vanishingly slim. She had battled the disease for four years, throwing traditional and experimental treatments at her opponent in round after round of fighting.

“Chrystal was always the independent one, the doit-yourself-at-all-costs person. I called her toxically independent,” said her husband, Lucas. “She would say, ‘I’m not the charity case,’ but that’s what she had to do. She had to accept help.”

But throughout her fight, Chrystal kept her sense of humor, even during the 5K in the park. Her good friend Carrie Baldwin ran with her in the 5K, huffing and puffing through the course.

“Do you need my oxygen?” Chrystal quipped. “Because you sound like you need it more than I do.”

Baldwin, founder of the Sue Baldwin Fund, which provides support to people and families fighting cancer; and Davis, a member of the fund’s board of directors, helped to organize Team Chrystal. That effort brought comfort to Chrystal during her final months.

“Being able to tell her there was $20,000 going to help her family get in the house was incredible,” Baldwin said. “She was comforted in knowing they would be OK. That this is where they’re going to be. She wanted to