A former Soldier that served with John's father in Iraq heard of John's diagnosis from another Soldier. 

After collaborating with a few other members of their former unit, Brendan met with John’s father at the Pentagon for lunch to “run something by him.”  He conveyed that a handful of former colleagues were interested in running the Marine Corps Marathon to raise funds in honor of John.  This monumental gesture of support, which includes an inherently significant physical sacrifice, moved and humbled John’s parents, who also decided to run the marathon. With Brendan's efforts, the team quickly grew from the original four Soldiers to several dozen individuals. 

They are a diverse group of friends, family, and professional colleagues from California to Chicago to South Carolina that have accepted the challenge of pushing themselves over a 26 mile course through the Nation’s capital on October 28^th 2007 to raise funds for the Foundation to Eradicate Duchenne (FED).  FED raises money to support the world's only clinical trials network for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) at the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC.  See the FED mission at:  http://www.duchennemd.org/mission.htm