Boston Athletic Association 5K 

Over the Boston Marathon weekend on April 15th, I was lucky enough to participate in the Boston Athletic Association 5k with my duo partner Amy Spindler. We raised money for the Gillian Reny Stepping Strong Center for Trauma Innovation at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. The foundation was established by the Epstein and Reny families in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings after their daughter Gillian was horrifically injured. Grateful for the staff at BWH who saved Gillian's legs, Audrey and her family created the Stepping Strong Foundation which pioneers research directed at trauma treatment and prevention.

Amy is a person with cerebral palsy and is a very medically complex woman, as such she's a huge fan of her doctors and nurses at BWH. I'm an aneurysm survivor who credits BWH with saving my life. Following my illness, I dealt with injury to my spinal cord which led to a new purpose of advocating for the physically challenged community. The Stepping Strong Foundation matched Amy and I together after I ran the 2021 Boston Marathon and now I count the entire Spindler family as close friends. We are both passionate about fundraising for BWH and have run the BAA 5k two years in a row and even co-captained the Stepping Strong team for the 2022 B.A.A. 10k! Amy will be running the 2024 Boston Marathon with a member of the US Triathlon team and I may join them.

Post race photo of the Stepping Strong team meeting.
The young women to my right is Gillian Reny, who 10 years ago nearly lost both of her legs during the Marathon bombing. Her mom Audrey is the chairperson and driving force behind the charity. They raised more than $1.5 million this weekend for Brigham and Women's Hospital Gillian Reny Stepping Strong Center for Trauma Innovation.

In this frame, the person in a running chair mean a lot to me personally. That's the Boston legend Rick Hoyt with his cousin Troy Hoyt. After Dick Hoyt passed away in 2021 members of his family assumed his role and now push Rick. Super cool!

Amy and I with Matt Brown, another local celeb in the physically challenged/para community. His partner is Lucas Carr, they've run the marathon together the past few years, the 5k is their "Warm Up" Great guys!

To learn more about the The Gillian Reny Stepping Strong Center for Trauma Innovation, click here.

You can also support The Gillian Reny Stepping Strong Center for Trauma Innovation through donation to the Brigham and Women’s Hospital