CHICAGO – In this fast-moving industry, it can be easy to keep your head down, obsess over the latest\u00a0media metrics, and not really look up to see the bigger picture in life.<\/p>\n
But life forced Tracey Scheppach<\/a> to do just that, when her son Ryan, then aged just seven, was diagnosed with leukemia.<\/p>\n The next three years were rough, as Ryan endured more than\u00a01,722 admissions of 14 different types of chemotherapy, culminating – thankfully – in him being declared free of the disease.<\/p>\n During that time, Tracey – a friend of Beet.TV’s who spearheaded Starcom MediaVest Group’s advanced TV\u00a0advertising operations until\u00a0beginning her own consultancy<\/a>\u00a0last month – decided to fight, too.<\/p>\n Inspired by Ryan’s own determination, she formed a\u00a0team to tackle the Chicago triathalon, raising money to help the\u00a0Leukemia &\u00a0Lymphoma Society (LLS) to fund research to find kinder forms of treatment.<\/p>\n By now, Team Brightside<\/a> – named after Ryan’s\u00a0up-beat disposition through those dark times – has raised a total of $600,000,\u00a0mom Tracey says, after she tapped up her SMG colleagues and a growing network of contacts in the advertising industry to run alongside her.<\/p>\n Scheppach, now heading up her own company Matter More Media, will be a keynote speaker at the Beet Retreat in Miami<\/a>, November 16 to 18. And, on Friday, those around town can join for a 5k walk\/run in support of Team Brightside.<\/p>\n