Joshua Crary's Fundraiser:

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My blurb:

     I, myself, am blind and have a degenerative condition known as Choroideremia.  I was diagnosed at age 14 and have experienced rapid loss of sight since that time and will go completely blind one day.  I am now 25 and have very little sight left.  I have no depth perception, can not really differenciate between colors and do not have the ability to read or see faces.  At the moment, my computer screen is simply a glowing beacon of light.  I do, however, use a cane and wear some hip shades. 
     I woke up one day in January of 2011 and made the decision to run the Boston Marathon.  I have worked out off and on over the past 5 years with varying levels of success.  At most, exercise and eating healthy was an off and on hobby.  I was not sure what made me choose to run the 2012 Boston Marathon, but my instinct told me that I needed to do this.  My instinct has never failed me before.
     Since January, I have gone from 190 pounds and only being able to run 6 miles a week down to 165 pounds and am now running 30 miles a week... with the mileage slowly increasing right now as well.  My diet has changed drasticaly and I now fuel my body for running, it is my obsession.
     My mission became clear in the middle of the summer, though.  I am running this marathon for those with disabilities who have ever doubted their capabilities and strengths.  I certainly have but now know how much beauty there is still left in life when you have a disability, and in some ways, how uniquely beautiful life is for one with a disability.  My goal is to not show others that since I have done the marathon that they can as well.  My goal is to have them join me in going after goals we once thought were impossible.    AccesSportAmerica provides people with disabilities with the resources, support and opportunities to achieve these goals.  They have been providing the disability community with cutting edge adaptive recreational activities for years now and help members of this community realize how strong, capable and beautiful they are inside and out.  Also, there is nothing more rewarding than taking on physical obstacles and overcoming them; to rise above a physical barrier in front of you and to command what was once hindering.  This organization strengthens the mind, body and spirit of many people with disabilities.

     Ultimately, I am running this for anyone, from any walk of life, who has ever been led to doubt their own strength. 

AccesSportAmerica, a national, non-profit founded in 1995, inspries higher function and fitness for children and adults of all disabilities through high-challenge sports and training.

AccesSportAmerica was founded by Executive Director Ross Lilley in 1995. At the time, Rev. Ross Lilley was the Minster at the South Acton Congregational Church in Acton, Massachusetts. Ross left his position in the summer of 2001 to devote his efforts full-time to AccesSportAmerica.

Prior to founding AccesSportAmerica, Ross had been adapting and teaching windsurfing for people with disabilities since 1984. A pioneer in adaptive equipment and training techniques, Ross serves as chief instructor and inventor for AccesSportAmerica so that windsurfing and other high-challenge water sports are possible for children and adults living with disabilities. AccesSportAmerica was the first to adapt the sport of windsurfing in the United States.

AccesSportAmerica first came to national attention when The Boston Globe reported on Ross and his son, Joshua born in 1985 with cerebral palsy and quadriplegia, windsurfing off the coast of Cape Cod. National coverage on ABC Good Morning America with Medical Editor Dr. Tim Johnson and in major windsurfing magazines soon followed.  

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