When the 2024 Boston Marathon takes place on Monday, April 15, Madison NJ native Danny Buckelew will be among the runners.
One of the things that makes this noteworthy is that Danny was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis 14 years ago.
Given the “normal” progression of MS, Danny should be in a wheelchair right now. Instead, he is running in the Boston Marathon and has even bigger plans for later this year.
Danny has been a guest with us previously here on Jersey Magazine (most recently last April) and he joins us again this morning to talk about this Monday’s event, and something very special coming up later this year.
INTERVIEW EXCERPTS
JIM MONAGHAN – 14 years ago you received the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis and on Monday April 15th you’re going to be running in the Boston Marathon again. I am blown away by what you’ve accomplished so far. First of all, congratulations and second, how has your training been going?
DANNY BUCKELEW – Thank you. The training is awesome and so it’s kind of changed from the first two years that I ran Boston. I run for the MS Society because I just, maybe in an MS patient, that’s something that is near and dear to my heart is doing anything I can to help us find a cure for MS.
That’s why I’m running for the MS Society. I’m not going to be the one that’s coming up with the cure but me running is a way that I feel that I can help contribute towards us reaching that.
I definitely have a different approach on the training. This time, not only do I have my charity team running coach but I also now have a personal running coach that I’m working with. He’s the one who I’m really just more interacting with on a daily basis in terms of what my training is going to be.
Let me tell you, this has really been just extremely exciting throughout the journey over the past four months and going through and having his guidance and recommendations in terms of going about my training. The thing that’s really different too with this is this personalized approach is I’m getting a training plan for two weeks at max.
And then based off of how I’ve performed in the training over the two weeks, he will then adjust whatever needs to be changed on the training plan that he’s providing to me and then giving me the next two weeks. Whereas the original plan was more of a cookie cutter marathon plan for the training that basically was like, okay, each week this is what you’re doing and was a plan for over 20 weeks.
So now with this, I really have a personalized approach in terms of my support and guidance. And yeah, I’ve never run more in my entire life. At the same time, I’ve never felt stronger. I’ve never felt fitter. I’ve never felt faster.
And even the big thing that comes into play too is just the whole strategy on running long distance. When I was much younger and running, it’s like, yeah, as soon as the gun goes off and it’s time to start, I’m just going as I possibly can until there’s nothing left in the tank completely running out of gas.
Now, that’s not at all how I’ll be strategizing or pacing at all. It’s really looking at each mile or chunk of mile, so to say, and coming up with a slower pace, so then you’re actually faster at the end of whatever the distance is that you’re running. And that’s what I’ve been working towards.
Deciding to run the Boston Marathon
JM – What prompted you to decide, I’m going to run the Boston Marathon in the first place.
DB – In battling MS, I’ve been, you know, receiving a multitude of different treatments along the course. And it just so happened, this latest treatment that I had had taken, it was infusion.
And the way that it’s administered the first year, it’s five days of infusion. And then you’re done for the rest of the year. And then the following year, you go in for three days and then receive that infusion.
The infusions themselves, they take anywhere from eight to 10 hours. And so, it’s a big chunk of time that you’re putting towards it. The one thing though with this therapy that I’ve taken, we actually just had a paper get published, a medical paper get published where they had 13-year data for patients that had received this MS medication where about 60%, I want to say, did not need a third year of treatment or any additional treatment.
And that’s where I was like, that’s going to be me. I want to be that patient that, you know, it’s going to be two years of the infusions. And then after that, I’m done.
And so it just so happened when I was receiving my first infusion, it was on Patriots Day, which is a Massachusetts holiday, which is the day that the Boston Marathon is ran every year.
I was sitting, getting my infusion on that first day and watching the Boston Marathon and thinking to myself, you know what, I’m going to finish my infusion marathon by running the Boston Marathon.
And so that’s where I got the big idea. And I did not know really much about the Boston Marathon and how it’s the oldest and most prestigious prestigious marathon in the entire world. And how tough it to get into.
I thought I could just go sign it up for like any other race. And no, no, you either have to qualify to get into the Boston Marathon, or you have to go to the charity route and, agree to raising a significant, you know, amount of donations.
So for me, I had to raise over $10,000 to run as part of the charity team, which thankfully I’m there. And a huge thank you to everybody that has donated and supported me through, you know, all of this and helping me even get to the starting line at the Boston Marathon.
And yeah, it’s just been fantastic to have all of this support. And, you know, every dollar that gets sent my way is going to be MS Society or National MS Society.
And helping, you know, patients who are impacted by MS be able to live the best quality of life that they they possibly can. And it’s not even just patients. That could be a caregiver as well. So anyone relatively impacted by MS is benefiting from what the MS society does.
The importance of having a positive attitude with multiple sclerosis
JM – One of the things that I’ve noticed about you in our conversations over the past few years, Dan, is your positive attitude. How much of a factor is that? Because, you know, after 14 years, the majority of people who have been diagnosed with MS, as you know, are in a wheelchair, they’re not about to run the Boston Marathon. How much of a factor is having a positive attitude?
DB – It’s huge. I mean, there was a point through my MS journey where I didn’t really necessarily have a positive attitude.
It was it took a while for me to get to the mental state that I’m in today. And it was really just relying on others.
It was others that I was seeing, you know, there’s a specific individual that I, you know, had gotten in contact with who also the MS patient.
But when I when we were exchanging emails, I saw in his signature that he was a founder and CEO of a company. And I’m like, you know what? You know, he’s hugely involved with the MS community. He’s a founder and CEO of a company.
That to me was like a light bulb went off. Aha. Like life’s not over after you have an MS diagnosis. And that’s kind of what really got me, you know, a change in my mindset in terms of, okay, yeah, this is awful right now. You know, I’m barely even, you know, able to walk. I’m barely able to even put a sentence together. I’m having issues with my vision.
But you know what? If there’s other patients that have MS that have gone on to really achieve great things, that’s that’s the path that I want to follow. Why can’t I do that?
And so that’s really what changed my overall mindset in terms of, you know, coming out of, you know, that kind of, you know, dark, dark phase of my life of not thinking that there was much ahead.
And now, you know, just completely changing that and trying to do everything that I possibly can and to just get better as much as I can at everything that I’m doing. Because now I have the opportunity.
I’ve been in the place where things that I had taken for granted had gotten taken away from me. And now, you know, almost having a second lease on life and being able to do those things again has really just been something that like I’m going to take full advantage of.
JM – And I understand there’s something really big coming up that you and I were kind of alluding to in our conversation before we came on the air. Tell us about that, Dan.
DB – So I’ll be running Boston Marathon. I got my big, my big goal in terms of the overall time. I want to break four hours this year.
So first time I ran Boston, I did it in about little under six hours. Last year when I ran, I did it in a little under five hours.
This year, I want to do it well under four hours. I feel like with my running coach and all the work that I’ve been putting in that that I’ll get there.
But then I just was fortunate to also have an opportunity through through my employer who’s a French company.
We have the Olympics coming up in the end of July, early August. And they’re one of the main sponsors. And I have been blessed and fortunate enough to be able to have received a bid to go run the Olympic Marathon. Not as an Olympic marathoner. They will still have the, you know, the fast Olympians running their events.
But what they’re doing in this year’s games, the theme of the Games actually this year is Games Wide Open. And so what Paris and the Olympic Committee are looking to do is get as much community involvement in the games as possible.
There’s things going on with cycling. There’s things going on some of the other events where they’re going to have like community members partaking in some of the games or some of the events.
And so the thing that I’ll get to do is I’ll get to run Marathon Pour Tous Paris. So translate that to English is it’s Marathon For All Paris. And that’s going to be on August 10th where I’ll get to go run the same marathon course that the Olympians are going to be running.
So August 10th, the men are going to run their race for the Olympics that morning. Later that night, they’re going to open up the course to 20,024 community runners or civilian runners. It’s a play off of the year 2024.
And so we’re going to run that same exact course that the men had just run earlier in the day for their event. The other thing that’s really cool, which has never been done before in Olympic history, is they’re actually going to close the Games with the women running the Olympic Marathon.
Ever since the marathon started, it’s always been the men’s marathon that would be the final event to wrap up the summer games. Whereas now it’s going to be the women that’s going to be the closing event.
And that’s just really, really exciting to see that now it’s going to be the women’s closing event as a runner.
And so I’m going to be really excited to see that. And I think it’s perfect too. If I’m running the marathon on the 10th, not really be wanting to do too much running around Paris and stuff around them. So sitting back and just watching the marathon on the 11th and watching the women and see what they do, it’ll be a nice way to stay off the feet for a little bit. Then we’ll run around Paris and get to take in all the sights.
Contributing to Danny Buckelew’s Multiple Sclerosis Society team
JM – For a WDHA and WMTR listeners who want to learn more, maybe they want to join your team, help contribute to what you’re doing. How can they do that?
DB – If you go on to the MS Society website, they have links for all different types of events that they’re doing.
And it’s not always Boston. It’s nationwide where they have events because that’s one of the things too. So I’m going to be running Boston this year.
I don’t know if I’m going to run Boston again until I actually get my Boston qualifier. So that’s going to be another hour that I need to cut my time down by.
But yeah, I’m going to definitely be running obviously other marathons to be able to get my Boston qualifier. And so one of them might be New York or Chicago.
And so that’s the other thing too, is the MS Society has teams that are partaking in marathons all across the country.
You don’t need to be a marathoner to get involved with the MS Society. They have walks that are all over the country as well. They have other different events, whether it’s the climb to the top at a certain stadium and things like that they’ll do. There’s also flight events.
So there’s all types of different kind of challenging fun physical activities that you can do that get supported by the MS Society to help contribute.
Rock N Ruff
It’s your rock and roll dog lover- Terrie Carr, and I want to introduce this week’s Rock N’ Ruff segment with Fawna and Star From All Humane Animal Rescue in Wanaque! This is their first time on Rock N’ Ruff and the DHA Rock N’ Ruff Program always enjoys meeting new friends that help our furry friends find homes-
ABOUT ALL HUMANE ANIMAL RESCUE- (As Their Website states)
“Our mission is to do our best to have all unclaimed, stray, surrendered, abandoned and neglected/abused animals in our custody adopted into new and loving “furr-ever” homes. These animals did not ask to be forgotten about, abandoned in the streets, or due to circumstances in a home to be given up. They deserve to live a full life with love and a caring family.We are here to make sure that happens!!!!”
Sounds great to us!
All Humane is foster based which means the pups in their care are in caring foster homes until they find their forever homes.
So let’s talk about Fawna and her sister Star! These sweet babies were found in a Rubbermaid container, outside a shelter in Texas and were lucky enough to get transported to New Jersey, with many other puppies and be taken in by All Humane. After being vetted, spayed and neutered, all of the puppies entered foster homes and are waiting to begin their forever lives. Fawna and Star are best buddies (Fawna a bit bossier!) and do not need to be adopted together.
Both puppies are super friendly, affectionate, smart, playful and love people. They are thought to be Dachshund, maybe Basset , hound mixes are are expected to be medium sized dogs (on the smaller size of a medium). They are lovely little pups!
You can reach out to our friends at “All Humane Animal Rescue” at the link below and read about the organization. As will many of our Rock N’ Ruff partners, they are always looking for volunteers.
FAWNA & STAR love to play
TC With Fawna from All Humane
We love being a part of the pups journey home and we are hoping Fawna, Star and the other dogs find their forever families!
Opt To Adopt!
Terrie Carr
(And check out more of my exclusive pet-related content below!)
WDHA’s Rock N’ Ruff with Stryker – The Shepherd
Solar Eclipse Safety Tips For Your Pet
