"I've always looked at running as somewhat selfish. I guess and something you do by yourself and you're only looking at the next run have."
Tom Yorke's next run won't be for himself, it will be for his wife Deanna and his sister Melissa — and it won't be just one run.
"I'm going to run 6 marathons in 6 days," Yorke said.
Yorke was selected for the MS Run The US. The cross country race is to raise money and awareness for Multiple Sclerosis.
Yorke has a unique perspective.
"I've been connected to the MS community since my sister was diagnosed 14 years ago," said Yorke. "We've been doing walks and rides and my wife went from my sisters number one fan to her partner when she was diagnosed 9 years ago."
Two of the closet women in Yorke's life are battling the neurological disease.
MS impacts the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves.
The debilitating disease impacts women more than men — and has the potential to affect everything we do.
"My sister occasionally has seizures. Deanna has mobility issues from time to time," said Yorke.
While Yorke trains for the race, rather races of his life, he's mindful of the challenges they both face daily. Deanna's a language arts teacher at Arbutus middle school.
Melissa lives in Toms River, New Jersey and also works in education. She's a paraprofessional in an elementary school.
"Knowing what they go through and how this affects them nothing scare me more," Yorke said.
The daunting challenge of running 6 marathons in 6 days scares him too.
There are 21 runners on his team — they'll run from Santa Monica, CA to New York City. He'll run the 19th leg, from Ohio to Pennsylvania.
Yorke says it's the only thing he can do to help his sister and his wife.
"I'm not a doctor," said Yorke. "There's nothing I can do to fix it for them. What I can do is this. What I can do is this run and make sure folks know how they can support Melissa and Deanna. They don't know what tomorrow brings. They really don't nor do I, so it's important that today we make a difference."
Yorke had hoped to run a monumental marathon to commemorate his 40th birthday next year — nothing can be more important than the race he'll run starting in July.
"Once your wrap your head around your going to run 6 marathons back to back, you realize this is going to take half a year of commitment to fully getting my body in a position where I can wake up every day knowing I've just run 2 marathons the past two days and I've got 4 more in front of me," Yorke said.
"I'm not getting a medal, but I want my wife and my sister to feel supported and their stories to be told."
If you want to support the cause, click here.
