Team Hoyt

Rick Hoyt was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck. Dick and his wife were told that he had Cerebral Palsy and was encouraged by the doctors to put him in an institution to live out the rest of his life. Instead they raised him with their other children. Often Dick would watch hockey with Rick and one day wondered if he understood what was going on. He asked a doctor if they could build Rick a computer to communicate with them. The doctor contacted a university in Boston and they had one built. Rick's first words were, "GO BRUINS!"

When Rick was younger he asked his father if he could enter a charitable marathon for a friend of theirs who was sick. Dick was a couch potato and had never ran 5k let alone 5 blocks. Not wanting to disappoint his son, they entered and he pushed Rick in his wheelchair for the whole 5k. They came in second to last. When they crossed the finish line Rick told his father that it was the first time he'd never felt handicap in his whole life. Dick was so touched by this that he continued to compete in marathons and today have ran 20 Boston marathons and have competed in Iron Man more than 5 times. My husband's best friend does Iron Man and it has three brutal parts to it. You have to swim, bike, and run and Dick does all of this with Rick. Not only do they compete in marathons but Rick has graduated from high school and college. Amazing where determination can take you.

Continue pressing on even if you have to work a little harder than most. Even if nobody else in this world believes that you can do it. Victory is so sweet when you cross that finish line.