Area has dedicated soldier to fight childhood obesity

This is the time of year we all get bombarded with "Top Events/People/Stories of the Year" stories. And this year, we get an added "Top Events/People/Stories of the Decade."

I've always liked it. It offers an opportunity to reflect on the year gone by, and now the decade gone by.

Last week, one of many surveys, this one by Hunter Public Relations (specializing in the food and beverage industry), revealed that childhood obesity ranked first among the three most memorable "food-related stories" of the decade.

If it's not among the most important overall stories of the decade, it should be.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that 16 percent of American children, more than 9 million kids, are obese. Nearly the equivalent amount are overweight.

Louie's Kids

We humans have an incredible ability to respond to crisis, though often too late, with attempts to fix it. Among the nonprofits on the front line of the battle against childhood obesity is Louie's Kids, founded by Sullivan's Island resident Louis Yuhasz.

Those who have met or heard Yuhasz know his passion for the cause, which stems from having an obese father who weighed 550 pounds when he died nearly a decade ago. Since then, Yuhasz has made it his life mission to stop obesity at the best time in people's lives, BEFORE they become adults. He has tirelessly raised money to send youths to camps specializing in obese children and, more recently, to get underprivileged, local students into a 16-week Fit Club program.

Developed by Louie's Kids, Fit Club incorporates nutrition education, daily exercise, family engagement and group therapy in an after-school environment. It remains a work-in-progress and its long-term impact won't be known for years. Regardless, it is a more cost-effective way to reach more children. Yuhasz wanted to cast a wider net.

Run Buddies

Last summer, Yuhasz visited The Post and Courier to pitch an idea called "Run Buddies" and wanted to get my thoughts.

The idea, somewhat similar to Big Brothers Big Sisters, is for a local runner or avid walker to sign up to mentor one student who may or may not be overweight. They would walk or jog, maybe eventually run, with the student at least once a week and be a role model for making exercise a daily necessity in life, like eating and sleeping.

"Mentors make such a huge difference in the lives of kids, and we wanted to get some healthy role models into the lives of kids who don't want to become overweight or obese, but don't really know how to get started," says Yuhasz. "All of the work at Louie's Kids has been focused on helping very obese kids lose weight. Run Buddies is about keeping kids from becoming obese. And if we can get kids started early on a lifetime of healthy habits, we can beat the obesity epidemic."

Part of the idea, he says, is to tie it to events, such as having kids and mentors run or walk the Cooper River Bridge Run. Like Fit Club, the Run Buddies experiment will take place in Charleston with the idea that it can spread to other cities in the nation.

I thought the idea was great and another way Louie's Kids could reach not only more kids, but involve the community on a personal level in the effort. After all, the cause needs more soldiers. The threat is more formidable than we think.

Yuhasz told me that he didn't plan to launch Run Buddies until the new year. He had details to work out.

The accident

On Oct. 9, one day before the sixth annual Louie's Kids Yoga Marathon, Yuhasz was involved in a freak accident.

Returning to Charleston for the event, he was driving on the interstate when a 14-pound metal pole came loose from a vehicle ahead of him, shot through the windshield and hit him in the jaw, breaking it and causing a gash that required 100 stitches on the outside and 1,000 on the inside.

If the pole had come any closer, it would have killed him. The gash was a hair away from his carotid artery.

The news of the accident was delivered the next day to about 150 people prepared to do three hours of yoga in Marion Square, all gathered to raise money for Louie's Kids. The news gave them one more reason to practice with deliberation and purpose. Yuhasz was undergoing surgery at the time the event was going on.

I was among those who sent out thoughts and prayers for him, but also wondered to myself how the accident would affect his mission and whether Run Buddies would be put on hold.

Renewed purpose

Understandably, it took weeks for Yuhasz to recover, but I'll never forget seeing him for the first time. He was practically bounding out of a Spinning class and stopped for a quick chat. The only apparent difference was a beard on what once was a clean-shaven face. Run Buddies definitely was still on.

Two months after the accident, Yuhasz is back to his regular routine, including yoga and Spinning. Running is more difficult because the three plates in his chin ache. He adds, "Cold weather's a reminder, for sure, that (the plates) are there."

Yuhasz, who's not quite ready to shave off the beard, seems even more energized about Louie's Kids, Fit Club and Run Buddies.

"I'll tell you," he says, "through this entire ordeal, I've only reaffirmed in my heart and mind that I know I'm on the right path in my life. I know that I'm where I'm supposed to be, and I know God spared me because I still have work to do."

How to be a mentor

Run Buddies, Louie's Kids' new mentor fitness program, asks that adult volunteers meet with a student once or twice a week to run or walk.

One requirement of volunteers is allowing for a criminal background check by Louie's Kids. While the program is in its infancy and a Web site (www.runbuddies.org) in the works, people can sign up by going to http://runbuddies.org.

Reach David Quick at dquick@postandcourier.com.