Evans Wilson, a Seattle marathoner, finished the 26.2-mile race on Sunday with oxygen tank in tow, despite being diagnosed with both pulmonary fibrosis and pulmonary hypertension five years ago.
Wilson, 62, walked the entire marathon, finishing in 10 hours and 55 minutes, according to KOMO-TV.
Wilson, who was once a competitive runner, decided to take part in this year’s marathon to raise $50,000 for the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation, as he says the “disease is incredibly underfunded,” according to ESPN.
The life expectancy for someone with the disease is typically about three years, but Wilson has beat the odds so far.
“It’s a terminal disease and a progressive scarring of the lungs that is currently irreversible,” Wilson told ABC News of his pulmonary fibrosis. “I’ve lived five years and I’m one of the fortunate ones and I’m doing pretty well.”
Wilson first learned of his health conditions at age 57 after he found himself out of breath from walking up a hill in his neighborhood.
“I got to the top and I couldn’t breathe,” he said.
Despite being cleared by doctors to walk in the marathon, Wilson said they surely weren’t “thrilled about it."
“It’s not good for my heart to do marathon-like work,” he said.
After the marathon, Wilson said he wasn’t in too much pain, though.
“I’m in pretty good shape if I didn’t have heart and lung disease,” Wilson told ABC News.
“I was in first place at mile 6 with some of the fastest marathon runners in the world behind me,” he continued. “The first 10 miles actually felt kind of good.”
Wilson added that, by mile 12, the race became a lot more difficult to finish, but thankfully for him he had his wife and another volunteer accompanying him. All three took turns lugging the oxygen tank.
“If I’d been there by myself, I don’t know if I would have finished,” he told ABC News. “As a former runner when I got to mile 23 . . . it doesn’t matter what it feels like, you’re going to finish.”
Sunday marked the first marathon that Wilson has ever participated in.
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