NEVER FORGOTTEN: Elizabeth Weidner still leaves her mark with short documentary 'More Than a Crown'

Aug. 17—Nearly one year ago, Jennifer Weidner and her family had their lives flipped upside down after the sudden passing of their daughter, Elizabeth.

However, before the tragedy hit the Dieterich family, Elizabeth made sure to give one last memory to them.

That memory, titled "More Than a Crown," aired on Fox2Now out of St. Louis and on the Keep Climbing Foundation Facebook page and YouTube channel Sunday evening.

"I think when people see parts of it, they will have different takeaways. The main focus is to try and educate, try to inspire, to motivate," Jennifer Weidner said.

The short documentary features Elizabeth and Alec Ingram, who also passed away from childhood cancer. It runs 28 minutes long.

The short documentary was the second of its kind that Elizabeth was involved in and the third full-length documentary overall. Jennifer said that the first one was a docu-series and was award-winning.

Elizabeth passed away on Sept. 29, 2021, and Jennifer believes her message is heard even more with this short documentary.

"Her video is very raw, emotional, and impactful," Jennifer said.

The overall message of the documentary is to share the truth behind childhood cancer and the extended funding needed to progress, something that Jennifer said Elizabeth had been vocal about for nearly five years until her passing.

"Her basis for her advocacy efforts started when she became Junior Miss Effingham County Fair Queen in 2017. That night, the first interview she gave was to the Effingham Daily News, and the first question asked was 'Why did you do this?' and she said, 'I didn't get this crown for myself; I did it for all of the other kids out there,'" Jennifer said. "That was Elizabeth's watchpoint for her, so every time she attained a crown, she used that to draw people in and educate them about childhood cancer, what is needed for research funding or compassionate cures and dispel a lot of myths out there."

That message especially rang true to Ryan Kelley, founder of The Home Loan Expert. Kelley helped produce the video and was also very close with Elizabeth.

"Elizabeth met Ryan from being a childhood cancer patient when she was still at St. Louis Children's Hospital years ago through an organization called 'Friends of Kids with Cancer,'" Jennifer said. "That friendship started with one of his employees, April Winters, and that's how this connection with Ryan began.

Jennifer added that once the two became closer and learned more about each other, Kelley became more invested in her fight and advocacy.

"The interworkings of that relationship grew tremendously, and Ryan was super impressed with all the advocacies that Elizabeth continued to do even though she was battling for her life," Jennifer said.

Jennifer said that Elizabeth and Kelley got involved in a previous documentary, which led to them putting their brains together to formulate "More Than a Crown."

Kelley, though, wasn't the only individual Elizabeth admired during the making of the film.

Hannah Adams, a former Miss Florida Oustanding Teen, dealt with the same experience that Elizabeth was going through at the time, leading to them growing a friendship.

"Elizabeth and Hannah met in 2018 in Washington D.C. and clicked. A lot of advocacy things they did, they did together," Jennifer said.

But even with the countless relationships made, Elizabeth's impact still goes further.

Kelley's other endeavor is being the founder of the aforementioned Keep Climbing Foundation, an organization in which Elizabeth was heavily involved.

"It hosts fundraising mountain climbs for various charities throughout the year," Jennifer said. "Its mission is to help climbers and the beneficiaries reach their summit and help them support life's obstacles. If you followed Elizabeth's journey for any length, she could have doctors telling her one thing, and she would set out to prove them wrong and do the opposite.

"This is the eighth-annual climb, and each year, the climb focuses on different charities."

Jennifer said that this year's charity is St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, with Elizabeth's short documentary being one of the featured films.

"They're using Elizbeth's short doc this year to help educate people and then to help raise funds. Elizabeth has always partnered with and collaborated with other organizations; she's raised a ton of money over the years that has helped various things, including research."

This year will also be the second time Elizabeth has a role.

The other time was during the fifth-annual climb, where Elizabeth's "Crowns Fight Cancer" charity was one of the partners.

"By doing that, Elizabeth took that money and put it toward 'Gold Together,' which was the American Cancer Society initiative specific to children with cancer.

"In that one adventure, I think she raised around $25,000."

Contact EDN Sports Editor Alex Wallner at 618-510-9231 or alex.wallner@effinghamdailynews.com.