Run Away Race this weekend will support King's Home Shelby

One October evening, Stephanie Pugh attempted to flee her home.

For eight years, she suffered abuse from her husband, with whom she had two young children. She saw no way out. But that night, she was feeling brave. She packed her bags, grabbed her children and headed for the door.

But before she could finally feel that rush of freedom, her husband forcefully stopped her. He kicked her down the flight of stairs inside their home. She lay at the bottom, bruised and battered. 

Then things took a true turn for the worse.

“He shot me in the arm with a 12-gauge shotgun,” Pugh said. “He shot me in front of our 4-year-old daughter.”

Pugh was taken to the emergency room where she remained for hours with her fate uncertain.

“They didn’t think I was going to live,” Pugh said. “They had asked all my family to come and say goodbye.”

But by a miracle, she did. Doctors took skin and muscles from her back and legs to put in her arm where she was shot. She recalls lying in the hospital bed feeling disfigured and helpless.

“I couldn’t do anything. I had to be carried like a baby to the bathroom,” Pugh said. “It took a long time for me to recover.”

Two weeks after the night she was shot, Pugh heard about the Run Away From Domestic Violence Race/Walk at St. Vincent’s One Nineteen Health and Wellness. A close family friend decided to walk in her honor. Pugh recalls looking at her daughter and asking her if she would run the race with her the following year, and she said yes.

 “I kept telling myself, ‘I’m going to run that race, I’m going to run that race,’” Pugh said.

Pugh’s first goal was to get up and go to the bathroom. Her second goal was to brush her teeth. Then, she walked to her mailbox. After that, her neighbor’s mailbox. The baby steps grew. The very next year, Pugh ran the full race alongside a friend and family members. She finished in one hour.

“I knew that if I could do that, it would show that he no longer had control over me,” Pugh said. “It gave me motivation to keep living and enjoying my life.” 

Pugh’s story is from just one of many women who feel trapped in abusive relationships. This year marks the seventh year for the Run Away Race, which benefits King’s Home Shelby, a home for abused women and children.

“We usually try to raise about $20,000 for the home,” Race Director Angela Dunn said.  “That money goes to general expenses such as electric bill, gas bill, etc.”

King’s Home Shelby is one of 18 King’s Homes across Alabama that provide a safe place for women like Pugh and children looking to escape abusive situations. Since opening in 2007, the home, a ministry of the King’s Ranch and Hannah Homes, has offered long-term care and healing to more than 450 women and their children.

“They are allowed to stay in the home for up to two years,” Operations Director Elizabeth Sherrell said. “We provide transportation, food and clothing. We also provide full-time nursery care.”

Sherrell says the program guides women through four phases that lead up to their transition to on-site apartment duplexes, where the women practice self-reliance.

“Our goal for them is to become independent,” Sherrell said. “We provide legal resources, health resources, résumé help, how to dress for an interview. We want to continue to support them.”

Pugh remarried and now lives in Pell City. She is a nurse at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and organizes her own 5K race, which helps cancer patients. As the annual guest speaker for the Run Away From Domestic Violence Race, Pugh reveals how thankful she was for a one-year stay at a shelter during her recovery period.

“I didn’t know support was out there,” Pugh said. “I probably would have left sooner if I had known. Now I work hard to raise awareness for women out there looking for that support.”

Runaway From Domestic Violence Race

Oct. 19, 8 a.m. Walk at 9 a.m.

St. Vincent's One Nineteen Health and Wellness

For more, visit runawayrace.com.