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The team is made up of family members and friends of Brad Berman, a Larchmont resident and former Burke patient who had a stroke in 2013.
Berman, a father of two and a marathon runner himself, was just 37 when he was rushed to the emergency room and underwent surgery for what was diagnosed as a massive hemorrhagic stroke. Berman was in a coma for more than a month and, once he woke up, had to relearn how to breathe, walk and talk.
After spending four months in the hospital, including time as an inpatient at Burke, Berman went home to be with his family. Today, Berman continues to receive outpatient therapy at Burke. He now also works with the state-of-the-art robotic-assisted devices at Burke Medical Research Institute’s Restorative Neurology Clinic.
Through the marathon, Berman and his wife, Jessica, along with the team of runners known as “Run for Brad,” are raising money to create and build a lower-extremity robotics program at Burke. The robotics program will help patients who have difficulty walking due to stroke or brain injury.
Steven Schindler, a friend of the Bermans and a Pelham resident, has done more than 50 endurance runs in the last six years — and hopes to complete an Ironman one day.
“I was teaching yoga in Larchmont, (at the) New York Sports Club, and saw Jessica running on the treadmill. She informed me about what had happened to Brad. I was really devastated,” says Schindler. “Brad is an amazing individual, and I am extremely proud to know him. I would be honored to run in the NYC Marathon in 2014 in raising money for the lower-limb robotics clinic at Burke Rehabilitation Center.”
The team’s goal is to raise $100,000. To support the run, visit www.burke.org/donate/NYCmarathon2014.
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