Hello and welcome to my page! My name is Grant Joiner and I’m Financial Advisor that grew up on the Island of Martha's Vineyard. I’ve been married to my wife Chelsea for 10 years and we have two wonderful children named Marlow (7) and Jack (2). After nearly 15 years away from the northeast my family and I decided to move back to the island to focus on serving the community that raised me.
After tearing my ACL playing Lacrosse in 2018, I found solace in the rehab process which re-engaged me with running. Since Jack has been old enough to ride in the jogging stroller it’s been his favorite activity and we spend time nearly every day running together.
Tell your donors who you are and why you are running!
Shortly after moving back to Martha’s Vineyard my wife and I both noticed that our son Jack was having developmental delays that we didn’t experience with our daughter. Many people around us, including doctors, thought we were crazy at the time because he was only 9 months old. Thankfully Chelsea pressed me and the family to continue evaluating Jack and with the help of early intervention programs he was formally diagnosed with autism at the age of 15 months.
So we found ourselves on an Island in the middle of a pandemic in completely uncharted waters. Who do we tell? How do we tell them? How much do we talk about it? Even though we were getting support from family and friends it was an extremely overwhelming, isolating, and lonely time for me and my family. We felt alone, and worse than that we felt like we would be alone in this journey forever.
I’m grateful to say that things have been getting consistently better since that time and that we have been welcomed in to an amazing and supportive community of people who are connected to autism. We feel extreme gratitude for the families and organizations that have paved the way for autism support and acceptance. The Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism means a lot to me as both a die-hard New England sports fan and a parent of a child diagnosed with autism. Jack’s favorite things to do is go on runs in the jogging stroller and we typically run together every day. It means the world to me to run for the cause and set a good example for my son and others that may be dealing with difficult times. If you have made it this far I'm grateful that you have taken time to read my story and hope you will consider donating to the cause.
Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these courageous runners from the swift completion of their appointed rounds