Husband, 61, runs 3K miles from CA to NY to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease after wife’s diagnosis
A San Diego man ran 3,000 miles from California to New York to raise money and awareness for Parkinson’s Disease research.
Mark Backes, 61, crossed the finish line at The Empire State Building Saturday afternoon, marking the end of the 92-day coast-to-coast trek he made for his wife, Mardel, who is fighting an aggressive case of the disease and his father, who lived with it for a decade before dying in 2018.
The entrepreneur began the endeavor April 16 at the Santa Monica Pier in Califorina, averaging 30 miles a day, without any outside support.
He sharing his journey on his TikTok and Instagram pages.
“Mark did this incredible run completely unsupported, no team, no crew, no medics. He carried with him an 80 pound cart with all his gear dragging behind him, included was a tent that he slept in for most nights,” Tim Distler of The Michael J. Fox Foundation told The Post.
Backes’ fundraising page received more than $21,800 in donations by the time he reached Manhattan, which will all benefit The Michael J. Fox Foundation, a research-focused organization founded in 2000 by the actor, who retired due to the effects of the neurological disorder.
More than 6 million people worldwide live with Parkinson’s, for which there is no cure.
