John Potter
Channel 2 News
More than three weeks after last month's deadly crash at the Reno Air Races, Stewart Campbell is attempting to stay awake for five days, or until he raises a million dollars for the victims and families of the tragedy.
You can only imagine how tired he is. In his mind, it seems like an eternity since he began his marathon quest last Thursday. He already started with a handicap the night before. "I was like a kid the day before Christmas, and so restless that night I didn't get a wink's sleep."
High hopes then, have turned into formidable fatigue. Sandra More is a Reno Air Race volunteer helping Stewart towards his ambitious goal. She told us, "We have nudged him, reached over and said 'Stewart, you're dozing.'" He kept it together until 2:00am Monday. At that point, Sandra said "He would essentially start a sentence, doze off, wake up and finish the sentence and not realize he had."
The crew let him take a five minute catnap that turned into a five hour slumber. Crew members, aware of the medical risks, were afraid to wake him. Awake again by 7:00am Monday, he seemed energetic and refreshed by the time we saw him at noon. He is quite certain he'll make it to noon on Tuesday. The one thing left that seemed to stand in the way of Stewart raising his goal is listening to some pretty sleepy elevator music at the Grand Sierra Resort. As Sandra told us, "The music on here, I mean they were playing Celtic heart music."
Despite the challenge thrown by the 101 Strings, there's plenty of inspiration to keep Stewart going into the final stretch. He was there when the air crash happened. He can't get the victims and their families out of his mind. He gets motivation from donations, now well over $11,000. "It's just so overwhelming to kind of hear so much goodness, when sometimes there's so much badness out there."
When he makes it to 12:00 Tuesday, that will be five days, minus that five-hour nap. But as Stewart says, "I've heard stories of marathon runners and people like that who even though after twisting an ankle, they still succeed and get to the end of the marathon."
To donate and watch Stewart online, click the link below. Or you can drop by your donation and see Stewart live as he does his webcast at the Grand Sierra Resort…fittingly just outside Starbucks Coffee.
http://www.ktvn.com/link/516470/loaded-tv-reno-air-races-fundrasier
