Why I'm Running

I've never had cancer, but I've known many friends and family members who have. As a priest and health care chaplain, I've spent a lot of hours supporting people undergoing treatment. Their struggle makes training for and running a marathon look easy.

I've never run a marathon before. This will be my first. I'm inspired to run by friends, family members, parishioners, and patients who have "fought the good fight" against cancer, whether they lived or died. I want to cross this off my bucket list while I have time. Cancer patients have taught me that you never know how much time you have left. They've taught me you have to live life fully and courageously now.

They've also taught me to take any measures I can to prevent cancer in my own body (90%-95% of cancers are preventable with major lifestyle changes). Not all cancer is preventable and being diagnosed with it does not always imply that we've engaged in unhealthy or sedentary behavior; sometimes its caused by environmental factors or just bad genes and bad luck.

Last summer (2012) I realized that I felt miserable. I was sedentary. I was a pre-diabetic and overweight. I made a decision that I was not going to go down like this. I knew as a then 37-year-old man I was facing a major life decision: would I give up on my health and continue as a couch potato or would I start exercising? The more I thought about it the more I realized that pain is inevitable. Either I will feel pain from a sedentary lifestyle or I will inflict pain on myself through exercise. I chose the latter. In the process, I lost 25 pounds and rediscovered my love for running.

As a member of the NYU Langone Medical Center Running Club, I have been given the opportunity to run the NYC Marathon on November 3rd and to fundraise for the NYU Cancer Institute. And I need your help.

I'm asking for your support. I want you to consider doing something:

1) DONATE: Make a donation here to help me achieve my fundraising goal of $4000 for NYU Cancer Center. Any amount will do. $5, $10, $25, $100. It all adds up, no matter how big or small.

2) RUN: Start running. Get off the couch. Decide that you will not go down like this! Kick your sedentary lifestyle in the teeth and start training to run a 5K today.

3) PRAY: Email me the names of anyone you care about who has been diagnosed, treated, gone into remission, or died of cancer. Each time I run, I will remember you and that person in my prayers. To email me use the contact form on the right side of the page.

4) CHEER: Follow my progress through this blog and cheer me on as I train and ultimately run my first marathon on Nov. 3.

Thanks for your support!