JordanRunner

THE BEGINNING. On April 28th, 2018 (4/28/18), my family was at Medical City Children's Hospital in Dallas, TX when we received the life-changing news that our youngest son, 18 months old at the time, had an extremely rare form of Cancer. A malignant tumor was growing behind his bladder, around his colon, and through his lower spine. The Cancer had metastasized and spread to his lungs.

Fortunately, his treatment proceeded effectively and efficiently. After four months of chemotherapy and a major spinal surgery, he was declared Cancer-free. He was a tenacious warrior throughout his battle and was an inspiration to everyone around him, most of all to me.

​Soon after the Cancer diagnosis, my older brother encouraged me to “run off” my stress and anger. Run until it doesn’t hurt anymore. I am tremendously grateful for his advice. I started running in October of 2018, and before I knew it, I was becoming a serious runner. I had never run more than a few miles before, but I ran my first 5k in November, my first 10k in April, and my first half marathon in September. Now, I'm training for my first marathon in early 2020.

​Running has helped to ease the pain I was carrying with me. It has given me future goals to focus on instead of reliving the past and grieving the loss of our old life.

​ST JUDE. Last year, when I was just beginning to run, I knew I needed a big goal to work towards. At the time, we were starting to plan our own “Make-A-Wish” kind of trip to Disney World to celebrate our son's Cancer recovery. I started to think that it would be fun to overlap with a RunDisney event and run a race at Disney World. I chose the Wine & Dine Half Marathon, which is during the Halloween season, my favorite time of year.

Eventually, I saw that St Jude was going to be a charity partner for the event and would have a team of runners, “St Jude Heroes”, representing them. I joined the team immediately and committed to raising $2,000 for them. To my disbelief, we met this goal within 24 hours! So, I thought “Great! Let’s do it again!”

Read: 2019 Wine & Dine for St Jude

THE DOPEY. After mentioning the St Jude fundraiser at my office, I learned that one of my colleagues is a huge RunDisney fan, and almost as obsessed with Disney as me. He eventually planted the seed in my head to try the Dopey Challenge with him. This is a 5k, 10k, half, and full marathon on four consecutive days. Through all four Disney World parks! Sounded crazy, but I was intrigued.

The idea of running a marathon in 6 months was daunting. I hadn’t run further than a 10k at that time. I started reading more about it, including which charities were partnering with Disney for this event. My brother’s DS6 is on the spectrum, so one charity stuck out to me right away: Autism Speaks. I finally decided to go for it and run the 48.6 miles in honor of my nephew. I joined the Autism Speaks team and committed to raising $2000 for them.

Read: 2020 Dopey for Autism Speaks

TRI FOR CHARITY. Getting into “marathon shape” has solidified my passion for endurance athletics, and in 2020 I’m going to start cycling in addition to running. My goal is to finish a 50-mile ride during St Jude’s North Texas Bike Rally in October. Then, in 2021 I’m going to start swimming as well with the goal of finishing a triathlon by the end of that year.