Kokomo — Three years ago, Eric Metz was unable to walk up a flight of stairs without assistance. Today he is in training to run a half-marathon in November to raise funds to benefit patients at Riley Children’s Hospital.

Eric, now 21, was diagnosed with cancer on Oct 1, 2007, during his senior year at Northwestern High School. Today the cancer is in remission, but Metz continues his ties to the Indianapolis hospital by raising funds for an endowment to aid patients staying there.

Team Metz is looking for people to run and walk in the Monumental Marathon in Indianapolis on Nov. 6, with a goal of adding at least $100,000 to the Eric Metz “Win the Battle” endowment.

Eric’s idea to try to grow the fund and use the half-marathon as a way to gain support for his cause was sparked by one of the friends Eric made at Riley.

While he was in treatment, Eric became good friends with another patient who had a similar form of cancer. That friend, who is now attending Ball State University, found out two months ago that his cancer is back, said Eric.

“That hit me really hard,” he said. “It freaked me out. Now he has to go through a stem-cell transplant that will take at least six months.”

Eric’s father, Ron, said that the relapse of Eric’s friend weighed heavily on his son, especially knowing that the young man has to go through the treatments all over again.

Inspired to act, the family decided to raise funds for the endowment by running 13.1 miles in the Monumental Marathon.

“I hate running,” he said. “When my buddy relapsed, I thought about how he can’t even walk down the hall.”

Ron said the family is looking for people to join their team as runners or walkers and to make pledges to raise the money. The team already has 38 members who will wear green “Team Metz” shirts on Nov. 6.

For any employees of Community First Bank who join Team Metz, he said, the bank has agreed to match funds raised by employees of up to $500.

Ron started training in April and was recently running miles in the 7-minute range.

“When I started, I couldn’t run a quarter-mile,” he said.

Eric said he hopes to raise more than $100,000.

“I’m taking this very seriously,” he said. “I was heartbroken to see my buddy back in the hospital.

“There’s no better reason I do this than because I can,” he added. “People in the hospital know about this and will be rooting me on from their hospital beds.”

Eric said his cancer was in remission a month after he started treatment, and he is currently preparing to enter his junior year at Indiana University where he is a double major in accounting and finance.

“To be honest, I like to go back now to make sure everything is still good,” he said of regular visits to Riley. “I should be going back every month, but the last couple of times they checked my vital signs and said this is ridiculous. Now I go in every two months, so I’m ahead of the protocol.”

When Eric submitted an application for the Kelly School of Business at Indiana University, one of the requirements to write a 300-word essay, Ron explained. The essay asked applicants to write about a significant event in their life, how they dealt with it and how it made them a better person.

Eric wrote about his having battled cancer. He said he still thinks about it every day and how things have changed in his life.

“I feel so back to normal,” he said. “I think about all the kids that haven’t been as lucky. My treatments went perfect. I met so many kids who can’t say the same thing or have passed on.”

Since the endowment was started, Eric has raised $260,000 for Riley.

Eric said the Riley Foundation has invested the $260,000 in the endowment, adding that 50 percent of the funds generated go back into the foundation and 50 percent is spent by the hospital. Eric has input on how the funds are utilized.

“I go down and collaborate with the nurses and doctors about what the kids need,” he explained. “Do they need more stationary bikes, Play Stations in the rooms or cots for moms?”

Ron said that although $260,000 is not going to find a cure for cancer, it is helping to make the patients and their families’ lives better during their stay at Riley.

“It makes the journey easier for the kids that have to go through it,” Ron said.