We’ve been following the story of a local Indianapolis man who is passionate about running. And he’s good. No, really good. Like, he just qualified for the Boston Marathon. Yea, that good. Like anyone who gets to that point in their running career, he did so by sticking to the basics: have a dream, practice & train hard and don’t give up. Andrew’s story is really about not giving up. It’s about pushing through it. It’s a story of hope.
This man’s name is Andrew Peterson and he’s 24 years old. We’ve been following his journey for weeks, sharing his dad’s regular Facebook updates on our Indiana NOFAS Facebook Page. In one of those updates right before Christmas, his father, Craig Peterson, included a link to a Runner’s World article about his son, commenting simply “Runner’s World coverage about my son’s Andrew journey to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Well-written and insightful. Community matters. #NOlimitsAndrew #361USA #FASD” That’s right, Andrew is living with FASD. So, in qualifying for the Boston Marathon as a Special Olympian, he is only the second in history to do so.
Because the story was about living with FASD, it showed up this week in a regular e-newsletter from our National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (NOFAS)! We’re used to seeing story links in their newsletter from around the US and world. But when one pops onto the feed from Indiana, it really stands out! This isn’t just any story. It’s a story about someone from our community. It’s a Hoosier story of hope.
We’ve included the video from that featured story below. You can also find the the online news article from WISH TV by clicking here.