The 2022 Festival of Miles Athlete in Need is Emma Reece. Although not an athlete in a traditional sense, 2-year-old Emma is a fighter currently battling leukemia. Nearly a year ago, a trip to the doctor for an ankle sprain resulted in the unexpected diagnosis of leukemia. Emma’s parents have had to miss extensive amounts of work to attend treatment, including hospital stays. Emma has three older sisters who have had to make sacrifices as well in order to be a strong family unit under immense amounts of financial and emotional stress.

With a long, multi-year journey ahead, Festival of Miles is happy to support not only Emma but her family through these trying times. The Reece family is already part of a community of runners, Emma’s father, Billy Reece, is an assistant coach with the Festus track team and Emma’s sister, Katelyn is a member of the Festus cross country team. But this year that community will grow to include all of the Festival of Miles supporters in St. Louis and across the country.