Running to a dream

Hello my name is Joshua and I have a dream. My dream is to run and complete a marathon as an Individual diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy.  I have already started the journey by completing a 5k as of Jan 26 2019.  These funds would go towards travel, equipment, entry fees etc..

My condition left me with very limited use of my legs. I was told that I would never walk, that I wouldn't do anything, that I would never be able to accomplish things on my own.

For a long time I believed these things. I couldn't do anything with the other kids at school and I was often left alone because I wasn't sure what to do and had no role models who knew what it was to be this way. That is until my grandfather lost his leg and became wheelchair bound. He is one person I remember who always had faith in me and it was his words that led me here. The last words he spoke to me were, "You will walk one day and you're going to do something great." He passed a week after in December of 2005. Three months later at the age of 11 in march of 2006 I had the surgery that changed my life in the hopes I could make those words and my new dream come true. After 2 years of recovery I took my very first real unassisted steps at 13 years old. I have been walking and improving ever since.

I want to do this to show everyone and to tell others who have suffered from obstacles in their life that it is not our hardships that define us but how we rise to meet them.

I'm here to do something I've been told was impossible because I truly believe that disability doesn't mean inability and I would be honored for you to take part in this dream with me.