On Labor Day 2018, my mother, an Ironman triathlete and masters' age group cycling champion, was hit by a car while enjoying the day. She had major traumatic injuries to her cervical spine, head, and legs. The accident left her quadriplegic. Her road to recovery was quite long, but I wasn't surprised that as soon as she was able, she got into wheelchair racing. In 2025, she watched me run the Boston Marathon with a charity team. For 2026, she has qualified herself as a para-athlete. My raising money for Stepping Strong allows us to share the experience of being Boston Marathon racers together as I raise money that benefits people in situations like hers.

The other piece of my story is about my providing first aid at protests as a "street medic." In August 2017, I traveled to Charlottesville to provide first aid for the protests against the neo-Nazi rally that was happening there. I was present when a neo-Nazi terrorist drove a car through the crowd, killing Heather Heyer and injuring dozens. It was sheer luck that I was not hit by the car myself. After getting up from having fallen over an abandoned bicycle while fleeing the car, I provided first aid to two people, and in both cases may have saved their legs. Another wounded was a fellow first aid provider, who I had met the night before while rendering aid to the people attacked by a torch-wielding neo-Nazi march at the University of Virginia. She was run over and sustained severe injuries. There were people left unable to work for months or years, people with long-term disabilities, people who required repeated surgeries and were left with enormous medical bills. One of the wounded was a middle school child. I'm running for them too. 

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Brigham and Women's Hospital is a proud partner of the Bank of America Boston Marathon Official Charity Program.