Brothers to Run Marathon for Mom

Deborah Bullerjahn of Marion loved to run. If there was a marathon, she would run it. Her running shoes hit the ground and kicked up the dust on all seven continents, including Antarctica for a marathon that just didn’t feel like the full 26.21875 miles, so she returned again to run it another year. Nothing could stop her, not even cancer, at least for a little while.

Bullerjahn’s sons Lucas, 32, and Kyle, 29, remember the corner in Wellesley near their childhood home where they would stand as kids waiting for their mom to run by racing towards the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

“We’d always watch from the same corner,” said Kyle on the phone in San Francisco where he now lives. His brother Lucas, in New York City, was also on the three-way call.

No one knew that, years later, the brothers would visit home from college to stand on the same corner to surprise Bullerjahn as she again ran the Boston Marathon in 2007, one year after her rare form of appediceal cancer went into remission. She would raise $65,000 for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute that race.

Bullerjahn was diagnosed in 2003 and underwent months of cancer treatment.

“It was a shock to everyone in our family,” said Kyle. “She was by far the most healthy in the family. A big part of my mom felt betrayed by running.”

Bullerjahn started running after all three of her children were born. She picked it up casually as a way to get back into shape until at one point it turned into a passion. Eventually, she became one of the first women to ever successfully run a marathon on every continent. Bullerjahn literally ran around the world.

“My mom was an amazing woman,” said Kyle. “She was just an amazing mother.” She loved them dearly and she pushed them hard to accomplish what they set out to do. Now they push themselves to achieve their goals, something Kyle said the two brothers really take to heart. “And now we encourage each other.”

It was Kyle’s idea to run the Boston Marathon this year in honor of their mother, and the two are running the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge to raise money for a cure. They will be in Marion that weekend with their sister Mackenzie, 33, and their father, who still resides there.

“Marion was an extremely important place for our family,” said Lucas. “Some of my first memories are tied to Marion. We would spend every summer there. My dad was an avid sailor.”

Lucas remembers spending summer days riding his bike to the General Store, taking sailing lessons, and going to the beach.

“It was always a dream for them to eventually move to Marion,” said Lucas. “It was a beautiful thing that they were able to do that. It gave me some comfort in knowing that she was able to live the final days of her life living where she loved.”

Bullerjahn’s cancer returned more aggressively in 2008, and on September 20, 2010, she lost her second battle with the disease.

“Although you may never meet my mom,” said Kyle, “you are able to know her through me.” Her smile, her positivity he said, “It’s something I carry with me to this day.” Running the Boston Marathon, the brothers agreed, was the perfect way to honor, remember, and feel closer to their mother.

Neither has ever run a full marathon, but throughout the months as they train on their own, they reflect while running, their feet falling on the footsteps laid out for them by their mother who did more than walk the walk when it came to serving others and giving back to those who are in need.

“That’s a big part of how my mom lived her life,” said Lucas. “It was her mantra – give back to the people that needed it.” He remembers times she would take the children to Rosie’s Place in Boston to serve food in the soup kitchen. She taught them to live healthy, push yourself as far as you can possibly go, and be the best person you can be.

“I couldn’t have thought of a better way to tie all these things together that my mom instilled in me,” said Lucas. “To run this marathon, to push myself, and be the best person that I can be.”

Kyle and Lucas have a goal to raise $25,000. You can help them reach it by visiting the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge fundraising page set up in Kyle’s name at www.runDFMC.org/2016/bullerjahn.

On April 18, Lucas and Kyle will pass that same corner in Wellesley where they would stand, waiting and watching for those precious seconds when their mom would run by them, smiling at them as she always did.

“I’ll never forget how big of a smile my mom would have running towards us,” said Kyle. “I always enjoyed that moment. One of those moments in my mind when I felt how proud I was that she was our mom.”

By Jean Perry

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