Our 2025 Bank of America Chicago Marathon Team Page

Run For Dylan

Please help our team support OAR by making a contribution to our fundraiser and sharing this page with your family and friends. Every dollar we raise will advance Organization for Autism Research's great cause!

WHY RUN FOR AUTISM?
1 in 36 children in the U.S. is diagnosed with autism. By joining the RUN FOR AUTISM team, you’re supporting OAR’s mission to fund research and resources that help people with autism and their families today.

Here are some of the ways that OAR uses the funds raised by the RUN FOR AUTISM team:

$10 provides a Curriculum in a Box professional development set to general education teachers.
$25 provides 15 copies of A Guide to Safety to families and first responders.
$100 provides the Kit for Kids peer education resource to an entire elementary or middle school.
$150 provides 100 copies of a Life Journey through Autism guidebook sent to a community support group or military installation.
$1,000 provides a research grant for a graduate student studying autism.
$3,000 provides a scholarship for a student with autism to attend college.
$50,000 fully underwrites an applied research pilot study.

NOV
20

The joy and wonder in those eyes

As many people may know, our son Dylan was diagnosed with Autism at 21 months after he began showing symptoms at 13 months. We were blessed to have him diagnosed so early due to a research program that was being done by the Marcus Institute in Atlanta in which they needed a child between 18-24 months for the study. His early diagnosis and intervention facilitated to him exceeding all expectations that we were given at that time including being told that he would probably never speak. Recently, we faced a new challenge as our sweet boy had a seizure for the first time two Sundays ago. There is so much that we are still learning after over 11 years of dealing with this neurological and developmental diagnosis. We have a long road ahead of us as we have further appointments to ensure that he continues to receive the best possible care and continues to thrive. We will be running in the Chicago Marathon next year and are raising money for Autism research so that other children will have the same opportunities that our sweet boy has had since he was just a toddler. Please consider donating to this cause to help reach our goal.