Events
A message from my friend Jennifer:
“This November, I’m running my first marathon in Philadelphia to keep dreams alive for families touched by heart disease. Sometimes, it’s worth ruining a perfectly good pair of running shoes.
The Onny and Oboe Scholarship Fund helps heart transplant recipients, and their families, with post-secondary education. “A second chance to live is a second chance to dream.”
The scholarship was founded in honor of my sister-in-law Deanna after she lost her lifelong battle with Cardiomyopathy. The fund was named for her childhood playmates — a pair of twins named Onny and Oboe — “ maginary” to the rest of the world while they comforted a homebound girl and dreamt under the stars.
Today, they nudge me forward. We need to raise $10,000 before the Onny and Oboe Scholarship Fund will begin helping young heart patients with post-secondary education each and every year.
I’m taking the baton from my little brother Michael, who is also my best friend.
Following the death of his beautiful young wife at Temple University Hospital, he founded the Onny and Oboe Fund and walked across the country to raise awareness. Yup, from coast to coast. The length of a marathon every day, for six months.
I’m running to push the needle forward for Onny and Oboe, a cause with the power to help patients like Deanna realize their dreams. Managed by The Philadelphia Foundation, all donations are fully tax-deductible.
So why a marathon, when it’s not something I even know I can do? The most I’ve ever run was 13.1 miles (and the thought of turning around at the finish and running back seemed preposterous). But I’m pushing myself. I’m waking up at 4:30 in the morning to run before work and knocking out 15-milers on the weekends. But compared to the motivation needed to recover from a heart transplant (while their peers are moving forward in their own lives) 26.2 miles doesn’t seem so daunting.
Please join me …”