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Terminal cancer patient runs marathon and wins... while pushing his daughter in a buggy

The inspirational story of Iram Leon, 32, who won the Gusher Marathon with his daughter Kiana in Texas last weekend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKLXEAPjwAw

YouTube Credit: TheJulieann4441

THE STORY OF Iram Leon, a 32-year-old marathon lover with terminal brain cancer, has gone global.

Two years on from his diagnosis, Leon ran the Gusher Marathon in Beaumont, Texas, last Saturday and won — even though he pushed his six-year-old daughter in her buggy for the entire 26.2 miles of the race.

“Here sore, reflecting and grateful, I still can’t believe that I won a marathon,” Leon wrote on his blog after finishing in an official time of 3:07:35.9. “Well, I came in second behind Kiana.”

The Wall Street Journal’s splash on Leon’s win (source)

The remarkable father-daughter team faced a challenge just to get to the start line. Because buggies are officially banned from marathon routes, their application was turned down four different times before the Gusher race organisers accepted the entry, the Huffington Post reports.

“This is supposed to eat away at my memory in the end,” Leon told the Beaumont Enterprise, “but I hope this memory is one of the last things to go and one she never loses.”

To commemorate their win, Kiana drew this picture:

(Facebook)

Read more of Iram Leon’s blog here >

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