Kaszar and two of his fellow firemen — Pat Mason and Brian Durante — will be running the Cleveland marathon on May 17 in full firefighter gear. Never mind that most folks can't run 26.2 miles in shorts, these guys will be suiting up on what could be a balmy day in pounds and pounds of protective gear meant to keep them safe from fires. Why? Pretty simple: to (hopefully) raise a whole ton of cash to donate to ALS research.
See, Kaszar's father, Phil, by all accounts an even sweller guy than David, was diagnosed with the disease for years.
Here's what Dave and Brian had to say in a nice interview with WEWS Channel 5 on the genesis of the idea and what they're trying to do.
Parma Heights firefighter-paramedic David Kaszar was talking to one of his colleagues, Brian Durante, during a recent short break from the action when a thought came to Kaszar as an alternative to the ALS ice bucket challenges of 2014.
"We were sitting here working one day on the same shift and he said, 'I think I'm going to run the Cleveland Marathon.' I'm like, 'that's great man. I'll run it with you.' And he said, 'I'm going to do it in my gear.' And without a hesitation I said, 'I'm right there with you," said Durante.
[snip]
"It started out with him having trouble holding his razor the right way. Eventually through a lot of tests we found out that he was diagnosed [with ALS] and it's been a slow progression to not being able to use certain parts of his body. He's basically paralyzed from the neck down. He can still talk and eat, which is an absolute blessing," said Kaszar.
Donate right here. It's easy. Do it.
