Quadruplets among 50,000 set to run marathon
CANCER SURVIVORS, quadruplets, a White House honoree from the Bronx and the brother of a 9/11 hero will all be among the 50,000 people running in Sunday’s 40th annual New York City Marathon.
Many of the men and women hoping to pound the pavement for a grueling 26.2 miles have overcome their own hurdles on their course to the big race.
Alex Jacob, 25, was diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2015. With no history of cancer in her family, the diagnosis came as a total shock.
After three surgeries and eight rounds of chemo, Jacob beat cancer.
Now, she’s ready for her next challenge.
“It seemed like the next logical challenge was something else that I never would have imagined I thought I could get through,” she said. “I figured the New York City Marathon was the stage to do it on. I’m very excited.”
Two-time U.S. Paralympic wheelchair racer Brian Siemann will race through the five boroughs for the fifth time — and for the first time so will his three sisters, Amanda, Maria, and Jessica.
The Brooklyn-born siblings, all 27, will make history as the first quadruplets to finish the race.
“New York was kind of such a nice opportunity because we would all be running this together, and it would be something we could train for and look back on and have good memories,” Amanda Siemann said.
Also on the course will be Gordon Felt, president of the Families of Flight 93, and the brother of Edward Felt, one of the 9/11 heroes from United Airlines Flight 93. He is raising funds for the Flight 93 national memorial at the plane crash site in Pennsylvania.
Shawanda Weems, 40, a Bronx public school teacher and White House honoree, received national recognition for establishing the New York Road Runners’ youth running program at the University Heights school in 2004.
Last year, one of Weems’ students, Kiara Fernandez, 20, proposed the pair run the marathon.
“She was the push I needed in order to really do it,” Fernandez said. “It’s something that you want to check off your bucket list, it’s something that you really want to do.”