By J.J. Huggins
METHUEN — Gail Polizzotti died before seeing her daughter get married and meeting her twin grandsons.
Polizzotti died of uterine cancer on June 18, 2003, at the age of 50.
Her daughter, Nicole Wilson, 27, got engaged two weeks before her mother died, and knew her mother wouldn't be there for the wedding. But at least she could let her mother know she would be getting married.
"That was why we got engaged before she passed, so that she knew I would be taken care of," Wilson said.
Wilson is keeping her mother's memory alive by organizing what she hopes will become an annual road race to raise money to fight cancer.
"I really haven't dealt with her loss yet, and this has helped me to deal with her loss," Wilson said.
Polizzotti fought cancer for eight months and had the best medical care available at the time. But that wasn't enough, and now that Wilson is raising two boys, Daniel and Brian, she longs for her mother's love and guidance. Wilson's sons turn 3 tomorrow.
So Wilson is helping fight the disease by raising money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She is organizing a 5 kilometer road race that will begin and end at Methuen High School on June 21, rain or shine. The race begins at 10 a.m. It costs $18 to pre-register and $20 to register on the day of the event.
Wilson is a fitness instructor and she ran cross country and track at Presentation of Mary Academy, from which she graduated in 1999. So organizing a race was a natural fit.
"It was something that I knew and something that would be able to draw a large enough crowd that we could get a lot of potential interest and raise a lot of money and awareness," she said.
Thirty one people have signed up so far. Wilson hopes at least 250 people will enter, and that she can raise $10,000.
Polizzotti played golf and liked photography, vacationing on Cape Cod and spending time with friends and eating ice cream, dancing and laughing, Wilson said.
"She was a little social butterfly, so she made friends wherever she went," Wilson said.
Polizzotti most recently worked as an administrative assistant at Philips Medical Systems in Andover. Before that, she worked at Salomon in Georgetown and at Lahey Clinic in Burlington.
Wilson now lives in Bristol, Conn., with her sons and her husband, Timothy.
Want to run?
What: First Annual Gail Polizzotti Memorial 5K Run & Walk
Where: Methuen High School
When: Saturday, June 21, 10 a.m. (registration begins at 8:30 a.m.)
To register or find out more: Contact Nicole Wilson at 860-582-6339 or nicole_tremblay@hotmail.com
