In January 2025 the neighborhood where I grew up burnt to the ground. At the onset of the fires I rushed up to Altadena and, as a first responder, helped to secure my parents’ home as well as helping to save a new preschool building at my old alma-mater, St. Mark’s. The smoke was beyond thick and the scene, a horror. Thankfully, amidst all the smoke and ash, I COULD breathe. 
 

You see, I was equipped with a proper respirator and had also quit smoking a few years earlier [managing to run a few marathons in-between] and, subsequently, turned my health around at middle age.
 

I’m fortunate. I CAN breathe and was only able to help during the Eaton Fire (and the months following [still helping rebuild the community as of this email]) because my lungs were functioning properly. 
 

This year, in my attempt at completing the Abbott Majors 7 Star Marathon Finisher  (because this year wasn’t tough enough) I’m running the Berlin Marathon 2025 with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, in order to help others breathe! 
 

If you weren’t already aware, CF is a genetic disorder that affects the lungs (primarily) as well as other organs, and it’s chronic. And progressive. Meaning it only gets worse over time. And that sucks!
 

So this year, for the Berlin Marathon, I’m running to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, who fight every day to find a cure & treatments for CF and help people BREATHE!
 

That said: Bitte helfen Sie!!! Or ‘Please Help!!!’ 

All donations of $100 or more from 7/25 to 8/31 will be entered in a raffle to win a bottle of Il Borro La Melle (2023) or Toscana (2020)!