INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Students hosted the Rosa Parks Elementary Walk-a-thon on Monday to benefit childhood cancer research, and show support for one of their own.

It was put together mostly by 4th graders at the school in a project-based learning class. Their goal is to raise $5,000 this month to benefit the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, a nonprofit that works to help the fight against childhood cancer.

The school also organized the event to show support for 5th grader Leanor Formo. She was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma in November 2020 and is now in remission.

Leanor rang the bell at Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital to signify she beat cancer almost 11 months after her diagnosis.

She says she discovered she had cancer after she fell at school.

“I had like a leg pain that felt a little bit like growing pains, but they wouldn’t go away,” Leonor said. “Most of (us were) playing with one of those giant parachute things. After the teacher had left to go check on the other students, everybody started jumping really hard and I fell over. That’s when we started to notice that the leg pains were something off because they got a little bit worse after that. After an X-ray because of how bad it had been going, we discovered that there was a tangerine or like little Mandarin orange-sized tumor in my leg.”

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and every year Alex’s Lemonade Stand puts on a “Million Mile Challenge” to fundraise for research.

The nonprofit says since the challenge started in 2012, it has raised more than $15 million. Those taking the challenge have also logged over 8 million miles.

The students will walk as part of the “Pugs on The Move” team. The team’s website says Leanor is obsessed with pugs and they helped her during her treatment. 

It’s because pugs and other dogs with similar faces have medical problems that they can’t control, yet they can still be happy and calm.

According to the school, last year’s Rosa Parks Elementary Walk-a-thon raised the most out of all schools in the country.

The class behind it is now being used as a model for other schools looking to start similar projects.

4th grade teacher Britni Pascoe says it was heartwarming to see Leanor’s classmates rally behind her.

“This is all student-led,” Pascoe said. “My students have done all of the work, they’ve researched some of the symptoms of childhood cancer and what it’s like to have childhood cancer and go through treatment. Leonor has been a big inspiration for them. She came in and taught them this year about what it’s like to go through treatment and chemotherapy and how isolating and lonely that can feel.”

During the walk-a-thon, students also made messages for other kids battling cancer and sold lemonade.

Students at Rosa Parks Elementary School hope to walk 560 miles today for the Million Mile Challenge.