On Sunday, November 5, 2023, Team Reeve will take on the TCS New York City Marathon! 2022 was a record-breaking year for Team Reeve NYC, raising over $565,000 for paralysis research! We want to continue the momentum for 2023!
Four years ago, Ernest Holly thought anybody who ran a marathon was crazy. But during the pandemic, his perspective changed.
“Running has become a fundamental piece of me, a way to be healthy and be a better person,” says Ernest, who is training to run the TSC New York City Marathon, his fourth marathon and first as part of Team Reeve.
“I’ve always wanted to run a World Marathon Major, and this is the perfect opportunity to merge my love of running with my wife’s story and bring awareness to the Reeve Foundation and spinal cord injury community. I’m excited to represent Team Reeve while honoring her.”
Ernest met his wife, Anna, on social media in 2011. They chatted online for a couple of months, then decided to meet in person while Ernest was home from college during winter break
“She asked if I was ok with her being in a wheelchair, and I was shocked. We had exchanged pictures, but I never even noticed that she was in a wheelchair,” says Ernest. The two got married in 2014.
At 14 months old, not long after she had taken her first steps in 1992, Anna was struck in the front of the neck by a stray bullet during a drug deal shootout in her neighbor’s upstairs apartment. She sustained a C6 incomplete injury and lost the ability to move below her waist
At age 12, Anna met some women who were Reeve Foundation Peer & Family Support Program mentors while she was in the hospital for surgery. In 2017, after becoming a mom two years before, she decided to become a peer mentor herself.
“I thought, ‘Let me see if I can reach other women in wheelchairs who want to be a mom.’ I wanted to share my experience and learn from others,” says Anna, who is now 32 years old.