Earlier this year, I was super anxious in the process of trying out for the UT rowing team. Chloe, the second person I had ever met at school, was the one who said 'Hey lets go run together before you have to do your time trial.' As someone who HATED running, especially alone, this small gesture, this little 2 mile run, made a huge difference in my confidence going into tryouts. This is the type of person Chole was: selfless and caring, she wanted to do whatever she could to make the people around her feel their best - regardless of what she was going through. The more I ran with Chloe, the more dining hall breakfasts we had together, the more walks to class we took - the more I realized that she was the strongest person I had ever met. Chloe faced some incredibly hard times before college, she went through some things I can only begin to imagine - but she was nothing if not determined, and she did everything in her power to make it here to UT. The more I got to know her, the prouder I became of her for overcoming what she did to be here. This made it even harder when Chloe started having seizures and missing school. She had worked so hard to be here, and along comes another hurdle for her to deal with.

With Chloe, I became well acquainted with the UT Medical Center (Lauren and I can get there in 6 minutes flat!) We became friendly with some nurses and volunteers and always found a way to have a laugh about the situation we found ourselves in. She hated being there, but we made our time in the ER as fun as we could. One day, I had been at class when Chloe had a seizure, then met her at the hospital as soon as I could afterwards. She was still a bit out of it, but the first question out of her mouth was “Oh no! Are you missing practice right now?” Leave it to Chloe to be concerned about my schedule when she was the one in the hospital bed.

All of this to say, Chloe truly changed my life in the few months she was in it. I have never met someone so inspiring, so, in her passing, I knew I wanted to do something in her honor. Running just made sense as it was one of the first things we ever did together, as well as something that she loved all her life and taught me how to enjoy too. In my training for the Knoxville half marathon I realized I wanted to do something more. I discovered the Epilepsy Foundation of East Tennessee, based here in Knoxville. The proceeds that EFET raises go to things like providing seizure meds for people in the area who can’t afford them, training first responders and teachers in how to respond in a seizure situation, providing children with helmets to prevent brain injuries, as well as providing transport and counselling services. I knew right away that this is a place that Chloe would have appreciated had she still been here in Knoxville, and a place that I want to support.