CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - There were a lot of tired people in Chicago Sunday after they climbed the 80 flights, more than 1,600 steps, to the top of the Aon Center in downtown Chicago to benefit Lurie Children's Hospital.
“Those kids go through a lot of hardship every day, so I wanted to challenge myself and put myself through a hardship to kind of pay a dividend to them, to what they go through,” said Aidan Blake of Oak Lawn, one of the 2,000 participants
Kristen Nowak and her family wore t-shirts that said "Jerry's Heart Racers" inspired by her son, Jerry, who had his first open heart surgery 17 years ago at Lurie's.
“We’ve been climbing for 15 years…He still climbs with us, and that’s why we’ll keep climbing every year…We call it ‘level-two fun’, it’s not fun while you’re having it, but it’s fun when you’re done and you always feel good about giving back,” Nowak said.
The goal was to raise about $600,000 for Lurie's.
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