Family, military energize disabled veteran through marathon

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Shad Eidson
  • Air Force Print News
SAN ANTONIO (AFPN) --  She may have been one of 50 Achilles Freedom Team "wounded warriors" for her third New York City Marathon, but Monica Szymanski was a steel link in the chain.

She was as determined as the others to cross the finish line.

The former Air Force Reserve senior airman was diagnosed with cancer in early 2003 when her husband was deployed and she was raising their 3-month-old son. The fact that this happened just a few weeks after her father died of cancer and that she would lose her left leg during the required surgery hardly slowed her down.

"I had a kid to raise and I was going to raise him," Mrs. Szymanski said.

Mrs. Szymanski "was all set to stay at home" and be her son's primary caregiver a year after her cancer, when she met Achilles members who encouraged her to the challenges of a marathon.

However, it wasn't until she saw the strength and will of disabled veterans, recovering from their injuries during her therapy sessions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., that their determination would motivate her.

"When I saw those other men and women come back -- and they push themselves to do what ever they can do, I said I should do this too," she said.

The Szymanskis were stationed at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. when the team gave her a hand-crank bike so she could train for 2.5 months for her first marathon in November 2004. Since her husband was deployed, she bought a child trailer and took her son with her when she would take her riding circle around the base.

Nothing was going to become an excuse to quit.

"It just took a lot of will and a lot of commitment," Mrs. Szymanski said about going out four times a week. "What inspires me is knowing that I can see my son and my husband every day," she said.

Mrs. Szymanski finished the grueling marathon, just like she said she would. This was her third marathon in New York and she crossed the finish line at 3:10:49. She also has competed in four other marathons.

According to the NYC Marathon's Web site, this year was the largest runner participation in history with 39, 954 entries. The first New York City Marathon was held in 1970. It had 127 runners who paid the $1 entry fee to participate. Fifty-five runners crossed the finish line. In 2000, the marathon added an official wheelchair division.