Remember how Uncle Bill gave you the medal he received for running in the Marine Corps Marathon. It seems that someone else figured out what a good idea that is. I still have that medal in my memory box of you that I have next to the bed.

The unbelievable thing about that medal was I think that was the time Bill ran the race without having trained. Some of his fellow Marines called him up after one of their group couldn't run (I think because he died tragically, but I need to check with Bill) and Bill jumped right in.

He, like you, is one of my heroes.

MADE OF METTLE

A marathoning doctor gives medals to patients struggling through much harder races.

By Sarah Lorge Butler

Photographs by Brett Kramer

PUBLISHED 09/02/2008

The day after he finished the 2003 Chicago Marathon, Steven Isenberg, M.D., a head and neck surgeon in Indianapolis, paid a visit to a colleague who was hospitalized. The two men were a study in contrasts. Dr. Isenberg, 58, was on a postrace high. Les Taylor, who had prostate cancer, lay flat on his back with tubes running in and out of him.

At a loss for words, Dr. Isenberg pulled his finishers' medal from his pocket and placed it around Taylor's neck. "I want you to have this," he said. "You are running a much more difficult marathon than the one I completed."

Before he died, Taylor told Dr. Isenberg how much he treasured the medal. Those words inspired Dr. Isenberg to start Medals4Mettle, a nonprofit organization that collects medals and donates them to people battling illnesses. As soon as the M4M Web site went live in 2005, runners from across the country responded. Not only recreational athletes, either: Olympic marathoner Brian Sell handed out his own medals at Dell's Children's Medical Center in Austin, Texas, in February.

"It's nice to know that someone is thinking of the kids and knows what they're doing is a very brave thing," says Melissa Sexton, a child life specialist at Riley Hospital in Indianapolis. One teen, she recalls, kept his medal hanging from his IV pole.

The adult recipients are fewer in number, but have a deeper appreciation for the sentiment behind the medals. Joann Hofer-Varela, of Westfield, Indiana, suffered a heart attack in 2004, at age 36, a week after the birth of her second child. Her cardiologist, Mary Norine Walsh, M.D., gave her a New York City Marathon medal that had been donated by M4M. "All I could do was sob," Hofer-Varela says. "It represented what I had gone through, and it represented somebody's sweat and hard work."

Dr. Walsh, medical director of the cardiac transplant program at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis, hands out about five medals a year to patients who have traveled a particularly difficult road. "I say, 'I would like to give you this medal. It's my recognition of your struggle,'" she says. "Later, my patients have told me it meant the world to them to have their doctor acknowledge how hard their battle is." The experience inspired Dr. Walsh to take up running.

Hard-Earned Prize

By Dr. Isenberg's guess, M4M has collected and distributed more than 3,500 medals, thanks to the efforts of a core of nine volunteers. The group is headquartered in Dr. Isenberg's Indianapolis office, where volunteers take the medals, donated from events of different distances worldwide, and attach new M4M-branded ribbons before sending them to hospitals. Dr. Isenberg devotes at least 12 hours each week to M4M, around his medical practice and his training. Since that first marathon in 2003, he has completed about 20, with a personal best of 3:30. He plans to run Chicago again in October.

Some medals arrive with legacy cards, which detail the donor's reasons for giving away their prize. One anonymous donor attached a note to a 2008 Indianapolis Mini-Marathon medal that read: "The children who battle deadly diseases are far more deserving of this medal than I am. My son was a Riley kid who died of bone cancer. I've seen the courage of the kids at Riley, and they deserve to be honored and cured." A runner's medal might not be able to cure a disease, but as Dr. Isenberg has found, it can lift a spirit.

Medals to Spare?

Steven Isenberg, M.D., answers runners' most frequently asked questions about Medals4Mettle.

Q: How do I donate a medal?

A: "Visit medals4mettle.org for information. You can also download a legacy form and use it to explain why you've decided to donate your medal. Monetary donations are always appreciated. Our biggest cost is the new M4M ribbons."

Q: Does my medal need to be from a marathon?

A: "No. Someone's maximum distance they're capable of might be a 5-K or 10-K. It wouldn't be appropriate to say 'marathon only.' But I should note that the kids especially enjoy the Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck medals from the Walt Disney World Marathon and Half-Marathon."

Q: Do you accept unused medals from race directors?

A: "We don't take medals that haven't been earned because then the whole concept would be lost. Giving your medal is a way of saying, 'I know you're having a struggle more difficult than the one I just ran, and I'd like to express that.' It's a transference of spirit."

I haven't written you for a long time. I just keep talking to you in my head and writing these notes on scraps of paper that I have all over the place.

I finally decided it was time to get back to it. Here goes.

We went to St. Michaels this weekend for Memorial Day. It was Papa Sy's 77th birthday.



Andrew and Tracy and your cousins were there. Our friends Hugh and Mary Beth and their family rented a house nearby and spent a lot of time with us. Nice.

We did the usual stuff. Rode bikes, played baseball, saw a lot of animals, went kayaking (just me -- no-one ever wants to go with me -- I am officially "Chopped Liver"), put boats in the water and stuffed ourselves silly.

This snake was on the driveway when we came home from riding our bikes into town. He was "sunning" himself. Joe and Sam and I watched him until he slithered away.



This is a bird that Joe and I found in the batting cage at the local St. Michael's high school. We couldn't hit 'cause we didn't want to hit the bird.



The bird wasn't moving. He didn't seem like he could or that he wanted to fly. I opened up the netting to let him out and he didn't budge. It was then that I realized that the bird was staying inside the batting cage for protection.

I told Nana about the bird and she said she had a friend who "rescues" birds. I went back later on to put the bird in a box to bring to Nana's friend and the bird had died. When Joe was going to bed that night I asked him what the highlight of the day had been. He said, "the bird." I didn't have the heart to tell him what had happened.



This is a really blurry picture of the Vice President's helicopter over Papa Sy's house. I recognized the whirr of the rotors from home. His helicopter is the only thing that can fly over our house in DC and the house in St. Michaels.

The Vice President gave a talk to the soldiers graduating West Point in the morning and by the afternoon he was in St. Michaels. Mom said that he lands at the Inn at Perry Cabin and then drives up to his house. I still want to get the ride from our street in Washington to here in the helicopter. No traffic!



Uncle Andrew and I helped Papa Sy put the Tashmoo in the water. The battery was dead so I had to paddle it to the dock. We got Rulen the Waves in halfway. It is a great adventure helping Papa Sy with all of these boats. We needed a higher tide to carry the sailboat off the trailer. I felt bad leaving Papa Sy without having gotten that boat all the way in.



The pool was freezing but that didn't stop your brothers and your cousins. I was in the Broad Creek a bit and that was fine. A lot of muck and ooze but no jelly fish, so I was happy. Joe looks pretty happy here.



Tonight is Michael's birthday. He is 13. A real teenager or a Jewish man, take your pick. His other grandparents, Arlene and Harvey, are having a pool party at their house tonight. We'll be seeing everyone all over again.

Some of the notes I am keeping are just things that I want to tell you about your brothers. Here goes:





-Every morning I find an entire playground's worth of wood chips in Joe's sneakers. For the life of me I don't know how he walks around like that all day and doesn't seem to notice or complain.

-Jack did incredibly well on his tests in school. He is really smart. I am proud of him. He is way smarter than me. Yesterday he started telling me that he thinks about what happens in different dimensions. I don't even know what other dimensions there are. He explained to me that there are other universes and he thinks about what those other universes are like.



-Joe has decorated his room in pictures of athletes that he has cut out of magazines and books.

-Your brothers, both of 'em, won't wear jeans.

-Joe has the bad habit of admiring his hits in baseball. Mom explains that he is the only player who turns triples into singles because he stands at the plate after he hits the ball to watch how far it goes. He reminds me a bit of Manny Ramirez of the Red Sox.



-Jack is a big fan of comedy. He listens to Steve Martin, Bill Cosby and Monty Python.



-Joe isn't big on learning to swim or ride a bike. This frustrates me a lot but I know it is only a matter of time. Patience. He can't go through life not knowing how to ride a bike, right?

-Both guys and Mom became fans of this show called American Idol. Joe was crushed when his favorite, a guy named Blake, didn't win.

-Jack watches the Simpsons... maybe too much. The Simpsons Movie is coming out soon.



-Joe watches SportsCenter all the time. Our routine is that he comes down for breakfast and we watch the highlights together. He always asks me "Who won," and I try to teach him to read the scores and learn for himself.

-Jack had a ceremony at school where he and his classmates got their own Chumashim. What was interesting for me is that when the whole class was singing I could hear Jack's voice separate from everyone else. I guess that is what being a parent is.



-Joe is obsessed with jigsaw puzzles. He went from ones with a few pieces, to 100 pieces to 200 pieces and I think he is working on a 500 piece one. Mom helps him out, but he is good on his own.

-Jack likes the Red Sox and Joe is a Yankees fan (I am rooting for the Nats and wish they would too)

So I guess what I want to report to you Big Brother, is that your two younger brothers are doing great. Jack needs to be a little nicer to Joe but otherwise, they're cool.

Aside from Mom's trip to China... here are some pictures from that...













...there is other big news that I didn't report. First, Zhenny left us. She wasn't working enough hours, so she needed to go to a family who needed her more often. You were the one who told me to hire Zhenny. I still remember calling her from Minnesota to tell her that we were coming home without you. She had only been working with us for a few weeks at that point. That was hard. We are going to miss her - Joe most of all. They have an incredibly close bond and Joe is so tight with her husband Peter and her son Jeff. Hopefully, Zhenny can come over to babysit from time to time.

The other really, really big news is that Papa Teddy is getting married to his friend Jeri. That is happening in June. I am Best Man. I am really happy for him.

Papa Teddy and Jeri just went to Italy for a visit. Here are some pictures of their trip.







Aunt Abby, Uncle Andy, Cousin Michael, Rachel, Joshua and little Noah are heading to Italy next month. Bill and Cristina went to Italy this weekend for a few days themselves. Seems like the place to be. I told Mom that I'd like to go to Israel after we go to Spain next summer with everyone for the 10th Anniversary of Bill and Cristina's wedding. You and Grandma are the ones who made the original trip who won't be there for the reunion.

 

That's a picture of you and me on a boat from that trip.

Hey, we had 3 Israeli girls stay at our house this weekend. They are going into the army soon and before they start their service they travel to the United States for a while. I'm glad we were able to host them. They said to visit when we go to Israel. Maybe we will.

For our anniversary, last night Mom and I went out for a nice dinner and then we went to see Todd Snider. He is the guy who wrote "Beer Run." I loved singing that with you and Jack. I always say that is how you guys learned to spell.

Bill and Cristina met us at the show. It was a really nice evening.

I was online today poking around and I noticed that Todd Snider has a song about Cape Henry. That is the place near Virginia Beach that we visited not too long after you died. It has a lighthouse.

For some reason I am not too sure about I like songs that take place during or are about the Civil War. Scott Miller and Steve Earle have songs that tell stories that take place in the Civil War. Now I can add Todd Snider to the list. This one is a little different from the ones he normally does. There is no mention of beer or love or the president or beer.

Speaking of love, he did sing two songs for his wife who I think was sitting in the audience. One of them is below. It was incredibly sweet.

This is the Cape Henry Lighthouse.

Cape Henry
Unreleased

Cape Henry, Cape Henry
Battle field on fire
On water, white water
With them flames climbing higher
We fired our cannons
For at least two hours or more
Cape Henry, Cape Henry
That old Virginia shore

Well I served as a sailor
It was back in '81
I can't say that I'm sorry
I volunteered for what I done
We trained and we waited
But we would not be outdone
Then one day, six battle ships
Came out of the rising sun

So we all manned our stations
yeah we passed a jug of wine
We waited in patience
Waited for a sign
First thunder, then lightning
Then a ringing in my ear
I can still hear that screaming
Even after all these years

Cape Henry, Cape Henry
Battle field on fire
On water, white water
With them flames climbing higher
We fired our cannons
For at least two hours or more
Cape Henry, Cape Henry
That old Virginia shore

Our deck was in tatters
That smoke was think and black
For each shot that they fired
We fired two right back
Then up in my shoulder
Something knocked me down
The last I remember was that water all around

Cape Henry, Cape Henry
Battle field on fire
On water, white water
With them flames climbing higher
We fired our cannons
For at least two hours or more
Cape Henry, Cape Henry
That old Virginia shore

So I woke up in Richmond
With a medal on my chest
I know that I earned it
Cause I know that I done my best
We did lose that battle
But I heard we won the war
So I headed back home to
Recieve my reward

I plow this man's field now
From morning until night
That war took my left arm
I'm working with my right
I guess I fought for the freedom
Of richer men up north
But I still fight for something
This plow goes back and forth

Cape Henry, Cape Henry
Battle field on fire
Hunt water, white water
With them flames climbing higher
We fired our cannons
For at least two hours or more
Cape Henry, Cape Henry
That old Virginia shore

All My Life
From Happy to Be Here

Driving all day we both said nothing
You threw your face in a magazine
I tuned in to the oldies station
Flew away in a time machine

This world is so amazing
The sun is shining and it's raining too
I waited all my life for you

I don't mind sometimes not talking
Sometimes there ain't a thing to say
Anyway I know what you're thinking
And I kinda like it when you think that way

I think I'll just keep on driving
Anywhere will do
I waited all my life for you

All this time I knew you were out there
All this time I knew someday I'd find you somewhere

Some people tell you everything they think of
Say yes I will and then they never do
Sometimes I gotta ask you to speak up
Everything you say is true

Say you'll be mine forever
Never leave me blue
I waited all my life for you
I waited all my life for you

Sunday night might be my favorite time of the week. Tonight I got to sit in the bathroom and watch Joe take a shower. I tell him a number, letter or shape and he writes or draws it with his finger in the mist on the shower door. All the while he is humming "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath. Your brothers are interesting pieces of work.

We are going to Zack Klein's funeral tomorrow. He was an incredibly sweet kid. I feel terrible for his parents and his sisters. I called to see if I could sit with his body but they had enough people, which is a good thing. I sat with Grandma or Aunt Ida, and parents from JPDS sat with you. You stay with the body at the funeral home and read psalms so they are never alone.



On Friday, March 2, 2007, of Bethesda, MD. Beloved son of Greg and Cynthia Klein; beloved brother of Janie and Lily; cherished grandson of Marty and Stephanie Klein, Audrey Horowitz and of the late William Horowitz.

He is also survived by many other loving relatives and friends. Funeral services will be held on Monday, March 5 10:30 a.m. at Congregation Beth El of Montgomery County, 8215 Old Georgetown Rd., Bethesda, MD. Interment Judean Memorial Gardens, Olney, MD. Shiva to be annouced at service.

If you would like to make a donation in Zachary's honor please contact A-T Children's Project at: www.atcp.org Arrangments by HINES-RINALDI FUNERAL HOME INC., Under Jewish Funeral Practices Committee of Greater Washington.


From: parents-owner@mail.jpds.org [mailto:parents-owner@mail.jpds.org] On Behalf Of Julie Fisher
Sent: Sunday, March 04, 2007 2:44 PM
To: parents@jpds.org; staff@jpds.org; alumniparents@jpds.org
Subject: [parents] Additional information about Klein Shiva

The funeral for Zachary Klein, son of Cynthia and Greg Klein, brother of Janie and Lily Klein, will be held at Beth El at 10:30AM tomorrow (Monday).

Internment immediately following at Judean Gardens.

Tomorrow (Monday) beginning around 1:30PM and continuing until 7:00PM the Kleins will be receiving visitors at the home of

Stephen and Susan Sherman
8004 Westover Road
Bethesda, MD 20814

Tuesday, shiva will be from 6:30-8:30PM at the home of Cynthia and Greg Klein

8302 Garfield Street
Bethesda, MD 20817
301-986-8662

Also on Friday, Cousin Adam and Lori had a baby. His name is Nathan Goldberg. I wanted to name you Nathan Goldberg, but Mom said "no way." My grandfather was named Nathan. I thought Nathan and Nate are good names. Mom thought otherwise -- so you were Henry.

This has been an incredibly full weekend.

Cousin Ron -- Nathan's uncle -- Diane, Zoe and Mia all came over for brunch on Saturday morning. Bill, Cristina, Sophia, James and Isabel came over too. It was crazy and fun. They all live so close in Virginia, McLean and Arlington, and we hardly see them. We made a deal that we'd all get together for brunch at least once a month at someone's house.

On Friday night, Sid, Linda, Ari, Helaine, Jake, Abby, Susan, Simon and Alex all came over for Shabbat dinner. We are truly one big, funny family. Last night we went to the Megillah reading at Adas Israel for Purim. Everyone got dressed up. I think my favorite was Jake wearing a cheerleader uniform.

Jack is in the sweatshirt, Joe is a Redskin, Max is an IDF soldier and Ari is just looking suave.




Today, after Joe's baseball practice (he has been asked to be the bat boy for the 6th grade JPDS baseball team),



we went to Georgetown for a Hope for Henry Superhero Party. It was in the atrium outside of the outpatient clinic at the Lombardi Center. There were a lot of families there. They came to the hospital on a Sunday which is saying a lot.

Mom did such a wonderful job that she definitely made it worth the trip on a "non-clinic" day for all of the families because the kids had a great time.

Here is a slideshow of the event.

March 07 Hope for Henry Superhero Party

After everything was in full swing, we went up to the 5th floor to bring some of the party to the kids who couldn't leave their rooms. While we were in the hallway, a mom and her son were walking out but stopped to introduce themselves. She said that Hope for Henry had really made a difference for her son. We gave him an XM radio. The mom told us that she and her son had read an article about you. The son was cured of his cancer, and they were leaving the hospital that very moment to go home for good. Talk about timing.

Everyone started crying. It was an incredible moment.

There was another amazing moment right after that. Mom went into the room of a kid who had just come in minutes before by Medstar helicopter. The pilot and the EMT workers were still on the floor filling out paperwork. The kid had brought a Spiderman toy with him on the helicopter, so you can guess how excited he was to get a bunch of other Spiderman and superhero toys and treats.

A nurse was in the boy's room and when he found out that Mom was your mom, he said that "Henry's spirit is truly living on through all of the good work of the Foundation." He said a ton of really nice things about you and about the Foundation.

While I was on the floor I read a quote tacked up on one of the bulletin boards. It was something that Abraham Lincoln said. And that was back when Presidents of the United States actually wrote their own stuff. He said,

"To ease another's heartache is to forget one's own."

We went to St. Michaels for Memorial Day. We are very fortunate. I don't take any of this for granted.



Mom and Joe tubing!

We spent a lot of time at the pool and on the water because the weather was perfect. Uncle Andrew and Aunt Tracy and Emma and Sam were there.



This is Isabel and Joe at the Maritime Museum outside the Crab Claw.



Here is a picture of Jack and Cousin Sam.

Uncle Bill and Cristina and Isabel and James and Sophia stayed over too. We also had a visit from Cousin Catherine and Tim and their little girl, Sarah. She is a total cutie. It was nice having all of those people together. We had other visitors come by.



Don't Mom and Jack look happy.

We had dinner at the Crab Claw. All of the kids went and checked out the live crabs before they were dumped into the boiling water.

We also went tubing and bike riding and I went for long kayak rides. Joe doesn't want to learn to swim or ride a bike. He kinda let on that he doesn't think he'll be able to keep up on bike rides and is scared of being left behind. I told him that I'd never leave him behind. Then he told me that he doesn't want to fall. I told him that everyone falls and usually you just get right up and start riding again. I explained how I had a big wipeout - on a pollen covered driveway - when we were in St. Louis but didn't get hurt and just jumped right back on my bike.



Aunt Tracy and Uncle Andrew got a new dog. His name is Vasco. He is a Portuguese Water Dog. Papa Sy named him for the Portuguese explorer, Vasco De Gama. He really doesn't like the water much, though.



Papa Sy has a new boat. It goes really fast. The cousins, and Mom, did a lot of tubing behind it. Your cousin Sam had the biggest smile on his face. He couldn't get enough.

Sam and Jack and I rode to St. Michaels and back to the house a few times over the weekend. Joe rode on the back of my bike on this trailer thing. It is like a one wheel bike connected to my bike.

We have included a new detour on our bike route. We now turn down Mt. Misery road. The Secretary of Defense lives in the house that is known as Mt. Misery. I think I may have explained before that the house and street are known as Mt. Misery because that is where they used to "break" slaves. Jack asked me to explain "breaking" slaves and that was hard for me to do.

I started saying that it was a place where "inhuman" things were done to black slaves. Then I stopped because I realized that all of slavery is inhuman.

I then said how Fredrick Douglass is a famous slave who was sent to the owner of Mt. Misery by his "owner" because Frederick Douglass didn't want to be a slave and wouldn't submit to his master. Basically, Mt. Misery was a terrible place where a terrible person did terrible things to black slaves.

The fascination for Jack and Sam is the Secretary of Defense. He is a guy who works here in Washington and he is in charge of wars. Not a great job. Jack and Sam wanting to ride past there kinda reminds me how Aunt Jen and I and all of our friends used to go over to Denny McClain's house when we were kids. Denny McClain was a pitcher with the Washington Senators, and he lived a couple of blocks away from us in Bethesda. He had been a great pitcher for the Detroit Tigers - he was the last 30 game winner in baseball. Then they lowered the pitcher's mound and no-one ever one that many again.

Denny McClain fell on hard times and started taking drugs and selling drugs. That was after he left Washington. All I remember is him handing us and the neighborhood kids baseballs. That was so cool. He ended up in jail.

Well yesterday after we all rode to town, Joe and I went off and had a really nice ride, just the two of us. I like spending alone time with him and with Jack. I asked Joe to rhyme words.

I said, "Pool," and he said "Albert Puljos."

Then he said, "how about 'Fart,' which he then rhymed with 'Pop Tart.'" He is a funny kid.

We rode up to the "poopy cows" as Joe calls them. The Vice President lives next-door to the poopy cows now. Here is a picture of him in the back of his house in St. Michaels with his dogs. It is an interesting coincidence that he lives next door to us in Washington and in St. Michaels.





This is a picture of the Vice President and the Secretary of Defense at the Secretary's house on the creek in St. Michaels. I paddled past it in the kayak.

Uncle Bill said he saw helicopters overhead when he was sitting at the pool. It must have been either the Vice President or the Secretary of Defense.



This is Joe passed out on the couch in the breezeway from having too much fun.

He is also going through a not-so-fun stage where he either doesn't listen to what we say or won't do what we ask him to do.

Last night on our drive back home Mom asked him to be very careful with the snow globe that he brought with him on the trip. It was a snow globe that Mom bought for you at the beach. Two seconds later he had broken it and was covered in liquid and glass.



This is a photo that Mom took of Joe. It was taken the same day as the next picture.



This is a photo that Uncle Andrew took of Joe. He looks different in this than any other photo I've seen - and totally different from how he looks to me. He looks more grown up.

We were sad for so many reasons. The biggest one is that this snow globe had special meaning. Mom told me how she had bought it for you back in August 2002. After you almost died and were hospitalized at Georgetown, Jack went down to the beach for a few days with Aunt Abby so we could focus on you. Mom didn't remember what we did with Joe.

When we felt you were going to be okay, Mom went down to the beach with Val and picked up Jack to bring him home. It was then that Mom bought the snow globe for you - and a stuffed whale for Jack. There was a penguin in the snow globe.

It is now sitting all drained of its snow with a very cracked glass globe. Of course, we were also sad because Joe could have hurt himself with the broken glass, and because he broke it right after Mom asked him to be extra careful.

It was Memorial Day and we learned of an interesting tradition they have in St. Michaels. They fire cannons. It was LOUD!





We went and visited with Aunt Alice and Uncle Peter at their new house. Wow. I wish you could have seen it. It is spectacular.

What was nice about this trip is that we ran into and saw friends and family all weekend. It felt like we were home.