My Story & my reasoning...

More specifically, I am running in honor of my brother who was diagnosed with with ALS in February 2024. No one, especially my brother, deserves this horrible disease. He has a beautiful life living in Brooklyn New York with his wife and 2 daughters. He is an important piece to our family, not to mention the kindest man you'd probably ever meet. It has been devastating and incredibly hard watching him battle this. So, I am willing to do anything I can to support him and any others who are fighting this to get closer to a cure. I ran the NY full marathon last fall and it was an incredible experience. I raised just under $10,000 and I can only hope it made a difference in research. I am happy to contribute my efforts by training and running to raise more money for this race to add to research. It is a sad thing to watch especially when it is someone who is so close to you, the least I can do is run. 

• Every ninety minutes, someone is diagnosed with the disease, and someone passes away from it.
• 90% of ALS cases occur without any known family history or genetic cause. The remaining 10% of ALS cases are inherited through a mutated gene with a known connection to the disease.
• 55 is the average age of onset with most people who develop ALS between the ages of 40 and 70. However, cases of the disease do occur in people in their twenties and thirties.
• ALS is 20% more common in men than women. However, with increasing age, the incidence of ALS is more equal between men and women.
• Military veterans are twice as likely to be diagnosed with the disease than the general public for yet unknown reasons.