![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/race-4-courage-2.jpg\" "\\"race-4-courage-2\\"")
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Runners in the Nassau Bahamas Marathon this upcoming January will probably see an uncommon sight. Two local youths plan to participate in the race- the catch. The 16 and 13 year old siblings suffer from Charcot Marie Tooth Syndrome, a rare neuromuscular disease that causes severe atrophy of the muscles. The degenerative disease has left both Tzvi and Racheli Herzfeld reliant on wheelchairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt hasn\u2019t been easy\u201d, said Racheli, \u201cbefore my recent surgery I could walk on my own and had more stamina, but recuperating has been hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 16 and 13 year old siblings from Teaneck NJ, plan to compete in a half marathon this upcoming January with assistance from Kids of Courage. Kids of Courage is a volunteer centric organization that gives year round support to children living with serious and terminal illness. The New York based non-profit specializes in medically supervised travel, and makes dream trips possible for children who would otherwise be confined to the hospital or to their home care routine. \u201cBecause of our expertise in traveling with serious illness, it\u2019s essentially easier for us to travel with large groups of medically challenged individuals than it is for most parents to travel with just one,\u201d said Dr. Stuart Ditchek, the program\u2019s Medical Director.<\/p>\n
The Herzfeld\u2019s first joined Kids of Courage on its 2010 flagship summer trip to San Francisco. \u201cI feel so comfortable around this group\u201d said Racheli \u201cI got to go adaptive horseback riding\u201d, Tzvi added, \u201cI never thought I would be able to ride a horse again\u201d.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve also been taken adaptive skiing, swimming with dolphins, and to Los Angeles and Orlando, all on the generosity of Kids of Courage. Kids of Courage provides life altering trips to its hundreds of participants at absolutely no cost to the children and their families. Last summer, over 150 seriously and terminally ill children from 14 states and 4 countries went to Orlando for 9 days. The group was accompanied by 350 volunteers, including a medical volunteer for each child. Around 1,200 doses of medication was administered per day on the road,which according to Kids of Courage is more than an average sized children\u2019s hospital.<\/p>\n
Kids of Courage will be hosting a charity marathon weekend in the Bahamas this January for its supporters who are running to raise crucial funds for the organization. When the Herzfelds found out they would have the chance to help give back to Kids of Courage, they jumped to sign up for the race. \u201cAs someone who is physically disabled, it isn\u2019t always easy to help others\u201d Racheli lamented, \u201cnow I have a chance to help in a way that is possible\u201d. This altruistic mentality isn\u2019t out of the place for the Herzfelds.<\/p>\n
\u201cKids of Courage is my extended family,\u201d said Tzvi, \u201cI would do anything to help my brothers and sisters. It also adds to the adventure, I never thought I would go on an airplane, let alone go to the Bahamas with my friends to help them out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Volunteers from the organization plan to push the siblings in adaptive chairs, but they\u2019re determined to walk across the finish line on their own. \u201cI know it\u2019ll be physically challenging, but I\u2019m ready\u201d, said Tzvi. \u201cI\u2019m just going to smile real big for the photo finish\u201d, joked Racheli.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two 16 and 13 year old siblings with a rare neuromuscular disease plan to compete in the marathon this upcoming January with assistance from Kids of Courage. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":44993,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[19,131,51],"class_list":["post-44987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-health","tag-sports-2","tag-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}