As the 2024 New York City Marathon approaches, Brendan Pomeroy recalls the impact that running has had on his life. With a running career that spans over a decade, Brendan found his enjoyment in the sport, even completing a half marathon in 2010.
Shortly after his half marathon, Brendan found himself taking a break from running. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic, Brendan made the decision to start running again.
“It occurred to me that there was a fork in the road,” said Brendan. “And if I went the wrong way, [my life would be] unhealthy and probably unhappy. So I said, ‘All right, I used to run all the time. It’s time to get back into running.’”
With that decision, Brendan slowly got back into running. Once he felt comfortable with his pace and endurance, Brendan began running more half-marathons.
“I love the atmosphere and was really into it,” said Brendan. “And as I lost weight, got healthier, and started running more, it just kind of made me think. Could you really do this? Could you run a full marathon?”
As Brendan weighed his options and tried to decide whether he would participate in a full marathon, their family received devastating news.
“Then last year, last spring, we got some terrible news,” he said. “We found out my stepmother, who’s been my stepmother for 40-something years, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.”
Brendan’s Reason to Run
Rhoda Pomeroy was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer in April 2023. Immediately following her diagnosis, she began doing chemo treatments.
“The hope was to stop any spread, and shrink it,” Brendan recalls. “[…] Surgery was the goal. And so that’s what we continued to hope for when she’d be going for her scans.”
With a game plan in place and treatments starting, the family was hopeful about Rhoda’s road to recovery.
“She seemed like herself, nothing was different,” he said. “She didn’t lose her hair. She would feel a little run down and nauseous, but then she’d rebound and feel great for another week until it was time to go back to chemo. She was doing everything she always used to, she was traveling. We were seeing her and spending time with her. If you didn’t know [she was sick], you wouldn’t have known.”
However, after several rounds with one chemo treatment and no progress made, Rhoda was switched to another chemo variation. Her family remained optimistic that this treatment was helping when her tumor markers started to come down.
Unfortunately though, Rhoda did not find success with the new chemo treatment, or two subsequent trials she was enrolled in.
“It was different from the beginning because at the beginning she didn’t look, sound, or feel like she had anything wrong with her,” Brendan recalls. “But at this point, she’s getting sicker. And I [said], ‘Okay, if you ever had any notion that you were going to do this and run a marathon, now’s the time.’”
Brendan decided he was going to run the New York City Marathon, and wanted to do it in support of a pancreatic cancer charity. After some research, he found Project Purple and knew immediately that this was the charity he wanted to support.
When Brendan finally got the call that he was accepted as one of the runners for Project Purple, he was so excited to be able to share the news with his family, including Rhoda.
“Everyone cried, and I got to tell her that I was going to do this,” Brendan said. “And so that’s when it became official. I set up a fundraising page, and then something crazy happened.”
It Takes a Village
After telling Rhoda that he was running in the NYC Marathon, the Pomeroy family shared Brendan’s fundraising page and were amazed at the outpouring of support. Within a week of sharing, Brendan’s fundraising goal was reached.
“It’s wonderful that we raised all that money, but she got to see what kind of an impact it has when somebody cares enough to donate,” Brendan recalls. “And she was amazed at the people from all these different walks of life, […] the people that she hasn’t seen or heard from in so long [who donated]. She got to see what was going on, so it’s really cool.”
Unfortunately, Rhoda Pomeroy passed before getting to see Brendan run in the NYC Marathon, though Brendan feels that she will still be with him during the race.
“Her birthday would have been November 2nd, and the race on the 3rd,” he said. “So, I don’t know, it all sort of feels like the planets are aligning. And it was a way that I could kind of do something in a situation where I otherwise felt pretty helpless.”
If you would like to support Brendan’s run, click here to visit his fundraising page.
Join a Project Purple run team at projectpurple.org/events.
