Reason to run
Sister inspiration for New York marathoner
Satchel Paige told us never to look back. Rich Nelson never has.
Oh, there have been fleeting thoughts: What if he had discovered earlier in the life that he had this God-given gift for marathon running? But the gift has allowed to give back in the most personal of ways.
Nelson, 42, who lives in Manhattan, entered a 5K run benefitting the Susan G. Komen Foundation in October 2009 and won. This struck a deep chord.
Nelson’s older sister. Stephanie Robin, 44, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004.
Nelson was with his sister in 2007 when doctors told her there were some treatments that had a 40 percent chance of extending her life three months or a treatment had a 35 percent chance of extending her life two months.
“These were not acceptable outcomes,’’ Nelson told The Post. “So we started looking into clinical trials. We were looking for a miracle.’’
They found one at Sloan Kettering Memorial Hospital. Robin entered an experimental trial along with 71 other women. She is the only woman still in the trial.
Robin started her own charity Think Pink Rocks, urging women to answer a few simple questions, such as, “Have any other women in your family had breast cancer?” There is a gene for breast cancer that can be dedicated easily by routine blood tests.
Nelson has taken the fight to the streets. Through running he has helped raise more than $100,000 for his sister’s charity. He was hoping to raise more in the New York City Marathon, which was canceled because of Superstorm Sandy.
Instead he will run today in the Philadelphia Marathon. He is hoping to set a personal best — sub-2:55 — but more important, he is running for Pennies In Action, a foundation trying to develop a cancer vaccine.
Celebrities on hand to help storm victims
A hurricane-ravaged Staten Island and the borough’s humanitarian champion would not be deterred. The 16th annual Dr. Theodore Atlas Foundation Dinner packed the Hilton Garden Inn on Staten Island Thursday night, with 700 donors and dozens of celebrities joining ESPN fight analyst and boxing trainer Teddy Atlas to assist the victims of Hurricane Sandy.
Among the star-laden dias were former Knicks stars Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley, Giants Super Bowl champ and CBS NFL analyst Phil Simms, Packers great and NFL Network analyst Sterling Sharpe, former heavyweight contender Gerry Cooney, thoroughbred jockeys Mike Luzzi and Rajiv Maragh, Giants punting great Sean Landeta, “Who’s the Boss” and “Taxi” star Tony Danza (a former club boxer), ex-Jet Bruce Harper, former Yankee Mike Pagliarulo, ex-Ranger Nick Fotiu, and sportscasters NBC’s Bruce Beck, MLB Network’s Brian Kenny, ESPN analyst and former Jets coach Eric Mangini, and Giants voice Bob Papa.
Atlas, who traveled throughout Staten Island then to the Rockaways and Breezy Point in the past three weeks, was buoyed by the turnout.
“We may be bent, but we don’t break…life is measured by the amount of care a person can give out in his life.”
Canty finds fine cause for wine-tasting
More than 100 wine enthusiasts, philanthropists, and Big Blue fans will join Chris Canty for a wine-tasting benefit for the Chris Canty Foundation to assist children victimized by Hurricane Sandy tomorrow from 6:30-9 p.m. at Coppola’s Restaurant, 378 Third Avenue. To purchase tickets, visit wepay.com/events/chris-canty-foundation-wine-tasting-nyc. For more information on the Chris Canty Foundation visit http://www.chriscantyfoundation.org. … NFL Films and Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment have released the “Super Bowl I-XLVI Collection.” The set consists of 23 discs, Super Bowl highlight films from each big game and a year-in-review film for every team to raise the Lombardi Trophy. The DVDs come housed in a 26-page book-style package filled with game stats, iconic images and foreword written by the late NFL Films legend Steve Sabol.
Youth hockey team on classic quest
Several eight-year-old hockey players from the area, led by Christopher Carreon-John, were so upset the Winter Classic was cancelled that they petitioned their hockey coach to create one at NYC’s Lasker Rink.
The team — the Avalanche, a Tier 1 club out of Hackensack, N.J. — has invited the L.I. Royals to an outdoor game at Harlem’s outdoor ice rink on Dec. 23. Each of the kids from Carreon-John’s team is contributing money from his respective piggy bank to pay for the ice time. They are hoping to get a Ranger to referee.