About This Event
In 2024, at age 57, I completed the Marine Corps Marathon alongside my wife and her fellow Marine Corps Sisters to commemorate our combined 31 years of Marine Corps service. Although I returned in 2025 for the race's 50th anniversary and later ran in Pisa, Italy, I ultimately decided my marathon days were behind me.
Earlier this year, one of my GDIT colleagues asked whether I would consider running the 2026 Berlin Marathon as a charity runner in support of his son, Lucas.
I had always known Lucas lived with a serious medical condition, but I never fully understood the challenges his family faced. During our conversation, I learned that Lucas was diagnosed in 2025 with a genetic mitochondrial disorder caused by a defect in the POLG gene. The disease affects multiple organ systems, including the brain, muscles, liver, and vision, creating challenges most of us can scarcely imagine.
As a father of three adult children and grandfather of two, Lucas' story struck me deeply. Training for a marathon requires commitment, discipline, and perseverance. Lucas and his family demonstrate those qualities every day in their fight against this disease. Compared with what they face, running 26.2 miles feels like a very small undertaking.
That is why I decided to come out of marathon retirement and run the 2026 Berlin Marathon in support of Lucas and families affected by POLG disease. While I am honored to raise funds and awareness for the POLG Foundation, my motivation is simple: to honor Lucas and the extraordinary strength, courage, and resilience shown by him and his family.
The POLG Foundation is dedicated to supporting and accelerating research aimed at developing treatments and ultimately finding a cure for POLG mitochondrial disorders. To learn more, please visit polgfoundation.org.
I hope you will take a few moments to learn more about POLG disease and consider supporting this important cause. Whether your contribution is large or small, every donation helps advance research, increase awareness, and provide hope to families like Lucas's.
Together, we can help ensure families like Lucas's are not fighting this battle alone and move us closer to a future where people like Lucas have better treatment and, one day, a cure.
About This Event
In 2024, at age 57, I completed the Marine Corps Marathon alongside my wife and her fellow Marine Corps Sisters to commemorate our combined 31 years of Marine Corps service. Although I returned in 2025 for the race's 50th anniversary and later ran in Pisa, Italy, I ultimately decided my marathon days were behind me.
Earlier this year, one of my GDIT colleagues asked whether I would consider running the 2026 Berlin Marathon as a charity runner in support of his son, Lucas.
I had always known Lucas lived with a serious medical condition, but I never fully understood the challenges his family faced. During our conversation, I learned that Lucas was diagnosed in 2025 with a genetic mitochondrial disorder caused by a defect in the POLG gene. The disease affects multiple organ systems, including the brain, muscles, liver, and vision, creating challenges most of us can scarcely imagine.
As a father of three adult children and grandfather of two, Lucas' story struck me deeply. Training for a marathon requires commitment, discipline, and perseverance. Lucas and his family demonstrate those qualities every day in their fight against this disease. Compared with what they face, running 26.2 miles feels like a very small undertaking.
That is why I decided to come out of marathon retirement and run the 2026 Berlin Marathon in support of Lucas and families affected by POLG disease. While I am honored to raise funds and awareness for the POLG Foundation, my motivation is simple: to honor Lucas and the extraordinary strength, courage, and resilience shown by him and his family.
The POLG Foundation is dedicated to supporting and accelerating research aimed at developing treatments and ultimately finding a cure for POLG mitochondrial disorders. To learn more, please visit polgfoundation.org.
I hope you will take a few moments to learn more about POLG disease and consider supporting this important cause. Whether your contribution is large or small, every donation helps advance research, increase awareness, and provide hope to families like Lucas's.
Together, we can help ensure families like Lucas's are not fighting this battle alone and move us closer to a future where people like Lucas have better treatment and, one day, a cure.