Running for the Pedatric Cardiology Patients

Let me first introduce myself, my name is Bryant Bohlig and I am running my first half marathon, on April 20th for the CentraCare Earth day Run. As I am preparing to accomplish this goal, I told myself I needed some motivation. The motivation that is getting me through these tough training days are the boys and girls who are suffering with cardiovascular disease. I can relate to these children as seven years ago, I suffered from congestive heart failure. When I was 14 years old, I was playing football and didn’t feel well. My mom thought I may be suffering with appendicitis, so she took me to the ER. It wasn’t my appendix at all but rather something much more serious. I was in congestive heart failure and I was immediately transferred to the U of M for a possible Heart Transplant. My congestive heart failure was able to be treated and I did not need a transplant, however I was very sick and the chance of me ever playing sports or running again were very slim. The odds of me running a half marathon is a miracle. As I was in the hospital, I lost all hope in ever doing anything active again because of the statistics my doctors told me. My goal for this race is to give hope and inspiration to the kids that are suffering with heart disease. To show them that that they can see someone who had congestive heart failure whose heart function that was less than 5% is able to run a half marathon. With that being said, I am setting up a go fund me page. The donation drive will be going on throughout my training and will be ending at the finish line. I encourage you to support me because I’ll use the proceeds to personally purchase items for pediatric cardiology patients of the CentraCare Heart & Vascular Center to give them a little laughter, joy, and peace while they go through the journey. I also hope my story can inspire others to continue fighting and not give up.