Jupiter walk to honor Suncoast High School junior

Zoe Loren jumping (Photo provided)

When hundreds, maybe even 1,000 people, show up for the 5K Run/Walk at Carlin Park on Nov. 11, they will do it to make a difference in honor of a lively teenager.

Zoe Loren had a range of interests that focused on photography and art. She created video shoots for her friends which she planned the location, poses and clothes. She dreamed about becoming a creative director for a magazine, living in New York City.

She was also a compassionate person who cared about the homeless, stray animals and the less fortunate students at the Arthur Meyer Jewish Academy in West Palm Beach and Suncoast High School in Riviera Beach.

"She sometimes came home and talked about students not having enough money for a class trip," her mom Evonn recalls. "So we (with husband Bruce) would donate anonymously to make sure that the students could go."

Her daughter "wasn't even 16" when she died two years ago, her mom says. Zoe was just a junior at Suncoast.

Started with headaches

It started with headaches that led to a trip to the pediatrician's office where Zoe was checked out and sent home to take some Tylenol, Evonn says.

Zoe still wasn't feeling well, so her mom took her back to the pediatrician to get blood tests for mono. Days later, her mom looked in on Zoe to find her having seizures in bed. The seizures led to a heart attack and a stay at St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach.

There, doctors put Zoe into a coma to stop the seizures. But nine days later, when the medication left her body, she was brain dead, her mom says.

Two years have passed, and her family still doesn't have an exact cause for Zoe's death. Doctors suspected it was encephalitis, but the virus didn't show up in the blood tests, Evonn says.

Grief leads to foundation

"We wanted to keep alive all the things she was interested in," her mom says. The list includes homeless shelters and food pantries, no-kill animal shelters, and scholarships for Meyer Academy and Suncoast students. So they created the  Zoe Loren Make a Difference Foundation.

Runners at last year's 5K (Photo provided)

To raise money for the causes, they wanted to do a community event. "Bruce and I love to exercise," Evonn says. "I'm a runner." She liked the Turtle Trot course in Carlin Park and knew the woman who ran that event. One thing led to another, and soon the Zoe Loren Make a Difference Foundation 5K Run/Walk was created. The fee is $25 per person.

In its first year, they had nearly 500 registrants. This year, they are hoping for more with some advertising on the radio to draw more registrants to the race.

Evonn says volunteers were key to the successful event last year. She's learned to make sure they have coffee early. On race day, she plans to pick up coffee at 5:15 a.m. at nearby Starbuck's location.

Foundation helps with grief

Everyone grieves differently, Evonn says. For her family, setting up the foundation was "very healing. It gave us an opportunity to talk about Zoe, be generous and make a difference in the community."

It is also painful at times. "I'm not just volunteering, but doing it for my little girl," she says.

And now, for my numbers

I had my best walking day last week on Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012, when I walked:

Steps: 13,409
Miles: 6.7