BY BLYTH LORD

Yesterday, my husband Charlie and his twin Tim ran an 18-mile ‘race’ in Vermont in memory of our daughter Cameron and Tim and Alison’s son Hayden, first cousins who died from Tay-Sachs disease five months apart. It was a beautiful sunny fall day. Six other men joined them as a fundraiser for pediatric palliative care and medical research. Charlie said it was the best run of his life.

Today, I participated in a 4-mile run in Massachusetts in memory of Nora, the daughter of a Courageous Parents Network advisor, to raise money for research. It was a beautiful sunny fall day. It was one of the happiest runs I have had. I never knew Nora, just as some of the men who ran with Charlie and Tim didn’t know Cameron or Hayden. But I, like they, ran because I know how important it is to remember these children who have left a mark on our hearts. I ran because it nurtures the soul to be in community with other people who are remembering and who run to do something about it. I ran because moving in a group, especially on a sunny fall day in New England, is pretty much one of the Most Life-Affirming Acts of Hope you can practice. And I ran, like they, because in raising money for palliative care and for research, I was helping all of the families whose children are currently living with serious illness.

Illness in children brings deep sadness. It also brings forth deep beauty and binds us together to help each other. That is why we run.