A young man has recently completed seven marathons in seven weeks in loving memory of his mom.
Brandon Tanomjit, 26, spent more than 21 hours running a total of 182 miles, traveling from his hometown in Shropshire, England, to complete two European marathons too.
He told Newsweek how he was inspired to turn his “pain into purpose” when his mom Nicola Grech, 46, was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in October 2022 and passed away the following April.
Lung cancer is by far the leading cause of cancer death in the U.S., accounting for about 1 in 5 of all cancer deaths, according to the American Cancer Society.
Tanomjit, a software engineer, said: “I feel privileged to be able to move my body. It was an honor to support my mom at the end of her life. She supported me, and then I supported her. I feel good about it; I am finally at peace with her death.
“The timeline is a coincidence, but I realized that I ran during the last seven weeks of her life.
“I am powered by so much grief—all the times I wiped her tears, held her hand, watched her go through delirium and her darkest days.”
While he put his life on hold to care for his mom, he took up running. He said: “It was a time to talk to the demons in my head.”
After losing her, he initially tried to deal with the pain through drinking alcohol, but then he sought therapy for six months. He then turned his focus to running.
“It has given me a purpose. My mom didn’t have much, but she always found a way to give back. She wanted me to donate all of her clothes to charity,” he told Newsweek.
Since deciding on his journey at the start of October 2024, Tanomjit has trained tirelessly and raised over $11,500 (£8,668) for the charity that helped care for his mom.
He launched his challenge on March 16 in Barcelona and has since run Paris, Brighton, and two local marathons, along with 105 laps of an athletics track. He completed his challenge with the London Marathon on April 27.
On average, each race took less than three and a half hours, but the last one left him feeling worse for wear.
“I didn’t get any injuries, but I did have an existing knee injury, and during the fifth marathon in Paris, it started to give me problems. I didn’t think I’d be able to complete the marathon, but I strapped it up and took painkillers. I pushed through with the power of love,” he said.
“I am an emotional person but never cry—but on the day of the final run, I was nervous and being sick.
“I was buzzing at the start line, but then I hit a wall. On mile 24, I collapsed with cramp and smacked my head and was with paramedics for about 15 minutes. Then I saw my loved ones, and I burst into tears of relief.
“I was so happy that I’m fortunate enough that I can do this, raise money, and spread awareness for my mom. I was proud of myself.”
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