You may know by now that we really like to share some of the cool things our doctors, here at Texas Back Institute, do when they aren’t in clinic or in surgery. Well today is no different. We want to share a story about Dr. Lieberman (or as he likes to be called Izzy) and why he is running in the NYC Marathon. Here’s a little background information on Dr. Lieberman. He has been with Texas Back Institute since the beginning of the year. He is one of the top surgeons in the world and he heads about our Scoliosis and Spine Tumor Center.
If you have read through our blog before you may have noticed that Izzy recently went on a spine mission trip to Uganda and blogged all about it. But one thing you may not know is that he loves to run. Izzy has entered several races this year including:
The Warrior Dash
Here’s a picture of all the Texas Back group.
The Big D run
And Jail Break 2010 (sorry no pics at this time)
But the big run is still coming up. The New York City Marathon!!!!!!!
Izzy is running in the marathon to benefit a charity very close to his heart, the Blue Card, a fund that assists destitute Holocaust survivors in the United States. Dr. Lieberman’s father was a Holocaust survivor and this is one of the many ways to honor him.
Below is an excerpt taken from the NY Times today. Truly an amazing story, don’t you think?
When Max Lieberman saw a break in the line, he ran. Officers leading the Auschwitz death march shot him, but he kept sprinting through the woods until he collapsed in a field. Farmers nursed him to health, and he never wanted to run again.
More than 65 years later, Izzy Lieberman will traverse the five boroughs of the New York City Marathon to honor his father’s escape in Poland and to help others whose post-Holocaust journeys have become increasingly difficult to bear.
“I think of him every morning when I’m running,” Lieberman said of his father, Max, who died of pancreatic cancer a decade ago, “and I’m just pushing it and pushing it.”
Lieberman, 51, guaranteed his entry into the Nov. 7 marathon by raising money for the Blue Card, a fund that assists destitute Holocaust survivors in the United States. In the field of 43,000, 7,400 will be running for charity, an increasingly viable way to get into the coveted race for those who do not beat the long lottery odds, qualify by time or live near enough to participate in 10 required races in New York.
Running for charity has been a common way to enter other major marathons for decades — especially in London, where nearly 80 percent of the field of 36,550 ran for charities in 2010, raising $81 million. It is a fairly new phenomenon, however, in New York.
The Blue Card is among 86 charity teams, up from 14 in 2006, when New York started its program. In addition, 104 community charity teams from the New York area will each have 5 to 10 entries. The New York Road Runners, the nonprofit organization that operates the race, estimated that $26.2 million would be raised, about $2 million more than last year’s total and $15 million more than in 2006.
Click here to read the whole story.