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In 1989, Teresa Siemann discovered – with both excitement and anxiety – that she would be giving birth to quadruplets. “We didn’t know what to expect,” she recalled.
Her husband, John, was a little more humorous, “When I heard there were going to be four, I thought, We’ll practically have a basketball team.”
But the four quadruplets – Brian, Amanda, Maria, and Jessica – were far from ideal candidates for the NBA when they were born.
They were born preemies, two months early, and weighed nine pounds, together. Their first two months were spent entirely in the neonatal ICU, during which Brian injured his spinal cord and became paralyzed below the waist. He relies on a wheelchair to get around.
When the quadruplets were young, their family moved to New Jersey to be closer to extended family. On family trips, Teresa and John dressed all four quadruplets in identical clothing because they “didn’t want to lose one” in the crowds.
Over time, as the quadruplets grew older, they began to follow in their older brother’s footsteps by taking up sports of their own. While their older brother played ice hockey, the three girls took to basketball, softball, and field hockey.
As Brian grew up, he entered a league of his own. He’s participated in the New York Marathon four times already and even competed in the second Paralympics Games in Rio this summer.
It was his idea to sign up for the New York Marathon with his sisters, now that they were all old enough and capable of qualifying for the marathon.
In the months leading up to the race, although the now-27-year-old quadruplets are scattered in different cities around the country, they’ve taken to texting each other about diets and training, and offering each other motivation before the big day.
All four siblings are thrilled to reunite – particularly in a place that’s so dear to their hearts. The marathon path will inevitably take the Siemann children to old stomping grounds of their birth and childhood.
“It’s a home-town kind of thing,” their father John explained. “It will be nice to have them all in the same place!"
