An American man with inoperable brain cancer won a marathon Texas while pushing his daughter in a stroller because he did not want to miss a minute with her.
Iram Leon came first in the marathon while pushing his six-year-old daughter in a stroller all 26.2 miles and battling brain cancer.
According to ABC News, the Austin, Texas, man, 32, did just that on 9th Marchwhen he crossed the finish line of the 2013 Gusher Marathon in Beaumont, Texas, in a little more than three hours.
Kiana is Leon’s daughter, his only child, and his motivation for running the marathon, his seventh marathon overall and fourth since he put off surgery for the cancer in his left temporal lobe in 2011 so that he could race in that year’s Livestrong Marathon, the report said.
Leon decided to run this year’s Gusher Marathon, but the organizers refused him to run but later decided to let him run the marathon with a stroller, a practice usually banned.
When he got to the starting line, Leon noticed that the stroller, with Kiana in it, had a flat tire.
According to the report, Leon declined an offer from a race official to babysit Kiana while he ran. Instead, a race volunteer pumped up the tire and the father-daughter pair, though wobbly, was on its way.
Leon’s battle with cancerous tumor has affected his memory, language skills and spatial orientation.
He underwent surgery in March 2011 to reduce the size of the tumor. Taking it out completely would have also removed his memory and language functions. He will be on anti-seizure medications for the rest of his life, he said.
He cannot drive, and sometimes becomes sick while running, but made it through all 26.2 miles of the race buoyed by Kiana
The non-profit organization that hosts the Gusher Marathon, the Sports Society for American Health, opened a scholarship fund for Kiana after Leon's marathon win, setting a goal to raise 30,000 dollars, the report added.
