Marathons Raise Awareness for Ataxia-Telangiectasia

According to A-T Children's Project news release, Tim Borland will be running 63 marathons in 63 days beginning September 3rd at Disneyland.

Borland will run the marathons of his life starting on September 3rd at Disneyland to kick off 63 marathons, in 63 consecutive days, at 63 different communities to bring attention and education regarding children with deadly diseases. Borland, who calls his amazing efforts the A-T CureTour, will end his last marathon on November 4th in New York City, all the way across the country from where he will begin.

A-T which stands for a rare genetic disease called Ataxia-Telangiectasia has no cure. The disease causes loss of muscle control due to brain cell death. Ataxia-Telangiectasia basically has the symptoms of four diseases, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis and cancer. Unfortunately studies show that children who are affected by this debilitating disease have amazing minds that are trapped inside of deteriorating bodies.

The whole point of Borland's amazing efforts to run the marathons is to build awareness and money for research that will help these children who can have no hope towards a future. Borland's inspiration is a 16 year-old girl name Cathryn Achilles who has A-T and whose spirit has not been tampered with just because she has this disease. In an interview will Borland, he states that "When I first met Cathryn, I thought to myself, here is a teenage girl living with this terrible disease that has no cure, her peers are out driving, playing sports, and dating, yet Cathryn is as happy a human being as you will find. That inspired me to do something."

It is amazing that people like you and I take advantage of such little things that are so precious to those who have such horrible diseases. Walking around the house, or standing in front of the refrigerator looking for something to eat, taking a walk around the block, or just sitting down on the couch thinking about the future. Things like this we as healthy individuals take advantage of, but when you hear of such an amazing outpour of compassion by one man, those things we take advantage of start to seem so important.

As Borland starts his marathons, scientists from the Human Performance Lab at Stanford University will monitor him through a strap he will be wearing on his chest called a Zephyr BioHarness. This will record the electrical responses of his heart, heart rate, breathing rate, temperature, and his movement patterns throughout the 63 days that he will be running. If you would like to see Borland running, you can see all the places that he will be at by going to http://www.atcuretour.org/.

Please take a moment out of your time to visit website for the A-T Children's Project that is located at http://www.atcp.org/. The project is a non profit organization that relies only on monies that are raised through the help of others. Help educate and find a cure for this horrible disease. It only takes a minute to help raise awareness.

SOURCE : Ultra-Runner to Run 63 Marathons in 63 Days for Children with Incurable Disease
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