This December’s Reggae Marathon is a mission of love for Marsha Doucette.
Marsha and I first met on Twitter when I saw her tweet about the Lace Up for Liver fundraising trip she’d planned for Reggae Marathon this December (Marsha Doucette’s Excellent Trip). Since then we’ve gotten to know each other a little better and she shared more of her personal story. And it is an inspiring one that has bubbled up and over and motivated others to join her and the Canadian Liver Foundation in Negril this December through the Lace Up for Liver event.
Marsha is
a runner and into physical fitness in a big way. Years ago her Dad was diagnosed with incurable liver disease. He treated it for many years but finally got the point where he needed a liver transplant.
In 2010 he took a turn for the worse. He spent that Christmas in hospital very sick after learning that he also had liver cancer. Marsha went through live donation phase but was rejected because of the cancer…a result of his liver disease. There was an urgent need for a complete liver transplant before it spread. Early in 2011 Marsha’s Dad successfully received the transplant and has been doing well since then.
The story could have stopped there but what happened next surely proves the saying that truth is indeed more interesting than fiction. Marsha heard about an opportunity at the Canadian Liver Foundation in a role that would allow her to work on the dual goals of fundraising and education about liver disease. She applied, was hired and now works actively for the foundation.
And there’s more…
You see Marsha’s Dad loves Jamaica. Negril in particular where over the years he has been more times than he can count! For sure he is ‘100% Jamaican by Association!’ . From this combination was born Lace Up for Liver, the fund raising event at Reggae Marathon this December.
Two other Lace Uver participants with intensely personal stories include Scott Hearn and Liz Magera. Both of them will be in Negril this December for Reggae Marathon as part of the Lace up for Liver Team.
Scott, a 33 year old mining engineer from Newfoundland, Canada was inspired and motivated to run Reggae Marathon for his Mother (that’s Scott top left in the photo; his Mother is second from right). She received a liver transplant back in 2000. Scott started in June this year has been training and fundraising very hard since then. “Family, friends and local businesses have been supportive…Family whom I have never met before dontated generously…Amazing”. Here’s his full story: Scott at Reggae Marathon. Scott is ‘super excited’ about making it to Negril this December “It’s been a magical combination of physical exercise and raising funds and running in an exotic location”.
Liz, a Grandmother from Toronto, Canada was inspired and motivated for a couple of reasons. She wanted to run her first 10K this year when she turned 60 years old. And she wanted to raise funds for Liver research because one of her Grandson’s was born with Liver disease. He was diagnosed shortly after he was born and had surgery at 6 weeks old. “When I got the email from a friend about Lace Up for Liver I initially said ‘No Way'”, Liz noted. “But she told me to leave the email in my mailbox and think about it…I did and now I not only hit my fund raising goal, I’ll be in Negril in December!”. You can read Liz’s story here: Liz at Reggae Marathon.
I’m looking forward to meeting and running with Marsha, Scott and Liz at Reggae Marathon this December. It may not be as personal but it is totally inspiring to know that I’ll be lining up alongside them to participate in their personal story. There’s still time to sign up to join Marsha and the team. Click this link: Lace Up for Liver.
If you have a personal story you’d like to share, we’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment on this post or send an email directly to [email protected]
Until next time…
Reggae Marathon RunninGuy (aka Sugar ‘Tuff Gong’ Bong)
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For more information check the Reggae Marathon Web Site. To register now click here for the Reggae Marathon Registration Page. Click here for more details on Reggae Marathon’s Abe Issa Award for Excellence.