Help Me Grant A Wish

My brother, Brian (1985-2002), was granted a wish from the Make-A-Wish foundation in 1999.  Brian wished us for to go to Disney World, and Make A Wish sent our entire family of 6 there for free.  We all miss Brian, and hope to grant another child's wish in his memory.  

100% of the proceeds from this campaign (minus transaction fees) will go to the Make-A-Wish foundation.  Our goal is to raise enough to send another terminally-ill child and their family to Disney.  We plan to seek 1:1 matching (of up to $10,000) through Chevron Corporation, which has generously and reliably matched for us in the past.

But why the marathon?
This will be my fourth marathon (and first in Chicago), and in the past three, I have invariably hit a wall (generally around mile 20).  At the wall, you discover deep down what keeps you going.

What has gotten me through the wall has always been Brian - his strength, his perseverance, his unwillingness to give up.  Brian inspires me.  And I want to honor him and his story.  I want us to remember Brian's wish by granting someone else's.


Above: Brian's 17th and final birthday party.  His disease contributed to his stunted growth.  Luckily, we'd been able to go to Disney World 2 years before.

The goal is simple - so is the ask.
Goal: Help another child and family in need.
Ask: Donate $20 (or more if you're feeling good).  The price of 4 coffees at Starbucks, or two tickets to a movie.  


Above: The three older siblings as kids.  This is before Brian needed oxygen.  Clearly, I tried to pick up his sense of style.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation is awesome. 
Their work inspires me.  Though our goal is to pay the Disney wish forward (a little over half of their wishes are for Disney trips and the like), the Make-A-Wish foundation is extremely creative in how they fulfill a variety of wishes.

A brief list of my favorite wishes is below.

1. Allan, teenager with leukemia, wishes to be a car designer.

2. 5 year old cancer survivor, asks to be mentored by Batman for a day as the Batkid (video below)


3. William, seven year old with congenital heart defect, wishes to be an American Airlines Pilot 


The video below, from a survivor, years later really touched me.  Tiffany Rowe talks about the power of that moment.


And here's some information about the Impact of Make-A-Wish , and a video, below.


Lastly, here's the website of the Chicago Marathon  if you're curious to see the race I'll be running.

Thanks again for your time and generosity.

If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to contact me via any channel (my email is also linked at the bottom of my website .)

An immense thank you to those who've helped along the way (in no particular order):  Dan Miller, Quinnton Harris, Lauren Weinstein, Kirin Sinha, Sam Roosz, Merilee Rustagi (Mom), Luis Navia, Andreas Nicholas, Niroshan Amarasiriwardena, Nancy Grossman, Catherine Smith, Spenser Linney, Andrea Moreno, Aria Swarr, & Running Crew (Ross Pedersen, Kelly Pierson, Gihan Amarasiriwardena, Jon Koehmstedt, Imran Khoja, Ray Cantu, Liane Fang, & of course, my epic running coach, Mary Oleksy)