5K Fun Run being held July 30 for Madi Taylor

Lace up your running shoes for a walk to raise funds for a Poway family whose daughter is battling leukemia.

The “Taylor Trot” 5K fun run and 1-mile walk is being held at 9 a.m. Saturday, July 30 at Road Runner Sports, 5553 Copley Drive in San Diego.

The cost to register for the race is $25 for adults 18 and older and $15 for youth under 17. Those unable to attend but wanting to participate can be a “virtual runner” for $25.

The master of ceremonies will be NBC 7’s Whitney Southwick and the event will also include an opportunity drawing, with prizes donated by local businesses. A limited number of Taylor Trot T-shirts and caps will be available for sale at the race.

Online registration is available through Thursday, July 28 at teamtaylorpoway.com. Registration will also be available on the day of the race starting at 8 a.m. The race has over 160 walkers signed up as of Monday.

All funds raised during the event will go to the Taylor family, whose daughter Madi has been fighting leukemia since being diagnosed in February. The money will be used to help pay for current medical bills and future treatments for Madi, said Jen Gladheim, a member of “Team Taylor,” a group of family friends and community members who have been putting on fundraisers for the Taylors.

The Taylor Trot is the latest in a series of fundraisers the members of Team Taylor have put on for the Taylor family, including a bone marrow drive and ice skating day at the Poway Ice Arena.

The most successful fundraiser, according Hughes, has been the flamingo “flocking,” where pink plastic flamingos “flock” on someone’s lawn and the homeowner can donate to Team Taylor to have the flamingos migrate to a new lawn.

“It’s a lot of fun, and it’s still going strong,” said Hughes. While most of the participants have been in Poway, some families in Rancho Bernardo and Rancho Penasquitos have also join in, she said.

Madi, 13 and an incoming eighth-grader at Twin Peaks Middle School, was first diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma in her hip in March 2015. The tumor was the size of a grapefruit, according to a press release from Team Taylor.

After nine months of treatment, Madi was declared cancer-free in January 2016. Twelve days later, she was diagnosed with leukemia. “While it was a known side effect of the chemo, Madi’s doctors have never seen anyone get leukemia so soon after treatment,” according to the press release.

She had her last chemotherapy treatment on Monday and is due to undergo a stem cell transfusion from her brother on Wednesday, according to Lisa Hughes, a member of Team Taylor.

“If all goes well, she could be back in school in January,” said Hughes. Madi has been out of school while being treated and has been tutored during the time.

Gladheim said Madi will need more tutoring to catch her up to her classmates, as well as possible physical therapy for the hip that had the tumor removed.