In Memory of her Son, a Mother Runs a Half Marathon

On August 16, 2009, Dorothy Shuler remembered the passing of her son Owen by running the San Diego Half Marathon in his honor. Her sister Maureen and her best friend Lauren (who has been Running for Owen since October 2008), joined her in support. To read more about why Lauren runs for Owen, click here.

The money raised for the half marathon went directly back to helping fight the illness that affected Owen- Spinal Muscuar Atrophy. To show our gratitude to Dorothy, Families of SMA would like to post the following exert, written in her recognition, by Debbie Cuevas of the Greater New York Chapter of FSMA:

“In the near 6 years that I’ve been a part of the SMA Family, I have been so lucky to meet so many amazing families. One of the most inspiring to me is the family of Owen Shuler. I went online to sign the Petition to Cure SMA and saw so many postings for a little boy named Owen. I followed his website and spoke with a family friend to obtain updates on how Owen was doing. It was heartbreaking for me to hear of Owen’s passing. I had never even met Owen or anyone in his family, but I was crushed to learn that this family had to bear this huge loss. What makes this family amazing and inspiring to me is that even though Owen was taken from them at only a little more than 5 months of age, they didn’t give up on him. They continue to fight every day to raise awareness and funds for SMA. One of the most profound things I have seen an SMA parent do was when Dorothy, Owen’s Mom, decided to run a Half Marathon on the one year anniversary of Owen’s passing on August 16, 2009 with her best friend Lauren and her sister, Maureen. Dorothy raised a total of $6,718 which was given to Sophia’s Cure (their gift registry for FSMA) and Columbia’s SMA Clinic in New York City. The funds Dorothy raised were outstanding, but I don’t think any of us can place a monetary value on the strength she exuded that day and the hope that she provided for so many of us SMA parents. Thank you Dorothy for being such an amazing woman.”