A man in the US with a terminal lung disease has completed a marathon while towing his oxygen tank.
KOMO-TV reports that Evans Wilson walked the entire 26.2-mile Seattle Marathon on Sunday and finished in just under 11 hours.
Wilson is said to be a former competitive runner suffering from pulmonary fibrosis and pulmonary hypertension. Simply put, that means his lungs are severely scarred and don’t process oxygen very well.
The disease is progressive and irreversible.
He said his doctor discouraged him from participating in the race, but he decided to do it anyway.
“It’s not good for my heart to do marathon like work,” said Wilson. “My doctors have cleared me but they’re not thrilled about it.”
Wilson said he expected to finish the race in about 14 hours. He says he used to be able to run a mile in under 5 minutes.
He told the station that he wasn’t running the race for fun but in the hopes of raising $50,000 for the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation. He says the “disease is incredibly underfunded.”
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