“It’s not to be showy, I guess it is a little showy, but it reminds me that’s why I’m doing it.” “I feel like what I wear tells a story about what I came from and where I’m going,” Sven explains. Now, these wings, along with the rest of his ensemble, can be seen on Sven’s back at every charity race he participates in with pictures and names of survivors attached to them. Sven loved the meaning of the wings so much, that he asked his wife’s cousin to sew him an original pair. Unfortunately, at about mile 20, the cardboard wings started to disintegrate, and he ended up carrying them the rest of the way. Before the race, he decided to go to the costume store, where he bought a pair of costume wings to represent his team of angels. Sven decided his first race for Imerman Angels would be the Illinois Marathon in Champaign-Urbana, because that is where he lives and works. In 2011, Sven’s wife was cancer-free, and he decided he would give back by running for Imerman Angels. “I felt that was something really special being a caregiver is a lonely and stressful place.” “They were always so warm, and I later learned that Imerman angels offers one-on-one mentoring to caregivers and support systems around cancer patients,” Sven says. “My first experience was less than ideal, but I still made it through,” Sven says.īecause Sven was the only YSC participant at the Chicago Marathon, Sven would often hang at the Imerman Angels tent, a group that always captured his attention that also supported cancer victims and their families. His first marathon was the Bank of America Chicago Marathon in fall 2007, which also happened to be the year it was cancelled halfway through due to heat. Sven started with Young Survival Coalition, a charity supporting women with breast cancer, and ran with them for four years. Fifty-four marathons later, Sven has found and built upon his passion. While she appreciated his care and attentiveness, she told him to find something to get him out of the house, so he started running. When his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007, Stephen “Sven” Johnson became her immediate caretaker.
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