Brain Cancer Patient Wins Marathon
32-year-old completes 26.2-mile journey while pushing his daughter in a jog stroller.
32-year-old completes 26.2-mile journey while pushing his daughter in a jog stroller.
The story sounds like something from a movie, but it’s true.
Thirty-two-year-old Iram Leon has a brain tumor. Doctors believe it will kill him before he turns 40.
For most people, this horrendous news would cause them to not push their bodies, but not Leon. He’s a runner, and earlier this month, he prevailed at the Gusher Marathon in Beaumont, Texas.
Leon’s time was 3 hours, seven minutes, and 35 seconds. All the more impressive is the fact that Leon won the race while pushing his 6-year-old daughter, Kiana, in a jog stroller.
“She had a blast listening to Disney songs and getting food from volunteers,” Leon recalled.
For those suffering from cancer, Leon is an inspiration.
“Mr. Leon gives us someone to point to when a person fighting cancer says, ‘I can’t do it,'” said Dr. Kathryn Schmitz, a cancer researcher with the University of Pennsylvania. “Start where you are. Walk laps around the dining room table. A cancer diagnosis doesn’t give you a get-out-of-jail-free card.”
For More: The Wall Street Journal