fbpx

Introducing the 2020 Boston Marathon Wunner Team!

We are EXCITED to share with you all the 2020 Boston Marathon® WUNner team! Wake Up Narcolepsy is proud to be an official Partner of John Hancock in the Marathon Non-Profit Program. The Non-Profit Program provides over 1000 Boston Marathon® bibs to select non-profit organizations throughout the community, which provides organizations with a significant fundraising opportunity. Last year, John Hancock Non-Profit Runners raised over $13.1M for their causes.⠀

 

 

This is Gretchen!

She is running to raise awareness about narcolepsy and research funds because it is near and dear to her heart. Her son, Max, was diagnosed with Type 1 Narcolepsy this past summer.

Gretchen says, “I will spend the next 7 months training and fundraising and making people aware that Narcolepsy isn’t just the funny scenes from a TV show of the person falling asleep in their spaghetti. It’s not just feeling tired like when you miss a night of sleep. It’s a life-altering, very complicated condition that can impact all aspects of life and it’s so important that we continue to look for treatments and ultimately a cure.”

 

 

This is Thaddeus!

He is a PWN. He is THRILLED to be running the iconic Boston Marathon® with Wake Up Narcolepsy. He was diagnosed with type 2 narcolepsy in June 2016.

Thaddeus says, “My goal with this opportunity is to help raise awareness so others don’t have to go through life as I did, not knowing that I was more than tired…This race is definitely a bucket list race for me. For the past few years, I’ve been running different events starting with OCR (obstacle course racing). Now I’ve been going up in distant running 2 marathons, a few 50ks, and a couple 50 milers. It’s not easy doing these races while dealing with narcolepsy, but I want to show people they don’t have to let what they are dealing with beat them. Are there days I don’t want to train, YES, but I listen to my brain & body, some days I push myself and others I take the day off.”

 

 

This is Colleen!

Colleen recently learned about narcolepsy. She is excited to have the opportunity to use her love for running to raise awareness about narcolepsy and research funds!

Colleen says, “I feel it is important to help bring recognition to this disorder to help educate more people on it. This sleep disorder is not widely talked about, and therefore awareness is at a minimum. I would like to help raise that awareness level and help bring this devastating disorder closer to a cure.”

 

 

 

This is Lindsay!

Lindsay says, “The truth is, I have never even run a 5k, let alone a marathon. However, this run is personal to me and my family. My son, Noah, developed Narcolepsy with Cataplexy at age four. While Noah is now 9 and has lived more than half his life with this diagnosis, as a mother the emotion around it is still quite raw.”

Lindsay continues, “As I run the 26.2 miles of the Boston Marathon®, I am running for Noah, I am running for every child and adult out there with narcolepsy, and I am running for the families who have been forever impacted by the diagnosis.”

 

 

 

Welcome to the team Lindsay, Thaddeus, Colleen and Gretchen.  We are SO grateful for your time, presence, sweat, and dedication to raising narcolepsy awareness through running. Thank you for running for Wake Up Narcolepsy and raising funds for narcolepsy research. Collectively 2020 Boston Marathon® WUNner Team is working to raise 35,000. We would love your support! To donate click here.