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62-year-old Evans Wilson was diagnosed with both pulmonary fibrosis and pulmonary hypertension five years ago.
Back in 2011, Wilson had begun to feel pain in his knee while running. When he initially went to visit his doctor, however, it’d been brushed off as something caused by his avid hobby.
Not long later, however, Wilson began to feel uncharacteristically out of breath when he ran, and was soon incapable of making it even up a hill without being unable to speak or even breathe.
It took three proper years for Wilson to be correctly diagnosed with his conditions.
With pulmonary fibrosis, Wilson’s lungs ran a high risk of scarring, which then strained his ability to breathe. Pulmonary hypertension caused high blood pressure in the lungs, increasing the risk of heart disease.
By that point, Wilson’s doctors assessed that he would likely only have about three years left to live.
Now, Wilson has outlived his doctors’ expectations by two years and still refuses to let his condition slow him down.
In November 2016, Wilson decided to participate in a full marathon in the name of his conditions. He maintained a very honest front about it; although he had been a competitive runner in the past, every step of this marathon was actually quite painful for him to take.
His doctor didn’t want him to participate in the event, but ultimately cleared Wilson to do so. “It’s not good for my heart to do marathon like work,” Wilson explained. “My doctors have cleared me but they’re not thrilled about it.”
Wilson chose to participate in the marathon mainly for the purpose of fundraising research for his two diseases and raise awareness of these conditions in general.
And this past Sunday, Wilson did just that. With his oxygen tank in tow on the 26.2-mile run, Wilson finished the entire course in exactly 10 hours and 55 minutes. He was immensely proud to beat his own anticipated record.
— Suzanne Phan (@SuzannePhan) November 28, 2016
