My name is Candace and I’m a 26 year old local runner and coach in the Bronx NY. In November 2022 I started getting ill. Urgent care mistook it for bronchitis (the first doctor said it was anxiety) and I ran through it not thinking anything of it. I love to run and be active with my wife and our corgi, Rue. 

By December I was having trouble laying down, sleeping, and had consistent wheezing and full body rashes. I had stopped running in the hopes my condition would improve but it got worse when I went on Christmas vacation to upstate New York. I continued to have violent coughing and a fever that my family never got, and that’s when I knew something was wrong. We had gotten on a train back to the city and when I tried to stand up and walk I had felt like I just ran a marathon. I was out of breath and was on the ground.

It took two weeks in the hospital for doctors to diagnose me with HES (Hypereosinophilic syndrome) where my white blood cells are overproducing and attacking other organs such as my heart, lungs, kidneys, and liver. There is treatment (insurance hasn’t approved the first line of medicine because it’s rare) but it has forced me to start completely from scratch in wanting to compete again. 

There are many families with children who are going through a story similar to mine, and that’s why I would love to run and raise money for those who can’t afford expensive medical bills, transportation, or that first line of medication they need. This is why I want to fundraise for Hope & Heroes.

Hope & Heroes is a regional charity that supports top-flight pediatric cancer centers throughout the tri-state area. We fund ground-breaking research on pediatric cancer and blood disorders and comprehensive care that encompasses all aspects of a patient family’s treatment experience.

Learn how you can help children today and save lives tomorrow at HopeandHeroes.org.