Meet the 8-year-old who ran a 3:32 marathon just a year after his last chemotherapy treatment.
Nate Viands loves tackling trails near his Philadelphia-area home.
NATE
“I want to run long distances.”
SCOTT
“Him running actually happened by accident. In the course of four to five months, he went from never run to a half marathon.”
For a time, Scott Viands didn’t think his son would have the chance to be “an outdoorsy” kid.
SCOTT
You look back three years where he was at, not being able to get upstairs by himself to winning nationals at cross country. That’s a pretty big departure and it’s not something in your wildest dreams you ever think is going to happen.”
In 2014, a month before his fourth birthday, Nate began exhibiting unusual symptoms.
NATE
One time I was in the hospital for a week.
SCOTT
“Everything happened really, really quickly.
We took him to the doctor. I’m assuming based on the things that we were telling her were going on, she had her suspicions, because she had the blood work back that day, which like kind of doesn’t happen. She said you’ve got to get him over to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, as soon as possible.”
Nate was diagnosed with leukemia; his chemotherapy treatments began almost immediately.
SCOTT
The cancer diagnosis of a four-year-old, it’s not really something you’re expecting to ever, ever hear or deal with.
Nate was homebound as his immune system recovered from chemo.
By the spring of 2016, he was healthy enough to start accompanying Scott on his runs.
SCOTT
We did our best to keep things normal, and try not to treat him like he was sick. It was like, there’s going to be no regrets. We’re going to say yes to everything. We’re going to live as much as we can now… He learned to do so much while under another two and a half years of chemo. He became a pretty phenomenal runner and a pretty phenomenal skateboarder.”
As Nate’s recovery progressed, so did his running talent.
His parents allowed him to push himself further, not wanting to stifle his abilities.
After winning his age group in multiple area races, Nate wanted to take on a new challenge.
Wanting to take on a new challenge, Nate joined a local cross-country team.
SCOTT
I really had no frame of reference, I knew he was a good runner but what does that mean, you know, compared to other kids that are good runners that age.
NATS
The start of the boys’ 2K race.
He qualified for the 2018 National Youth Championships for boys aged 6-8.
NATE
“When I was at the start, I was kind of like nervous. Then halfway through the race, I was ten seconds ahead. It was fun.
SCOTT
To see him come around that corner in first place, it was still early in the race, but I knew what kind of runner he was, and I knew once he was in first, no one was going to catch him… I don’t want to say he deserved it, but it was a special moment to be able to watch as a parent.
One week later, Nate toed the line for an event 21-times longer.
NATE
“Me and my dad were looking to run a marathon and we found the Baltimore marathon and then we started training for it.”
SCOTT
Very mindful of being ready for it and talked to his doctor and she’s like, absolutely, no restrictions, have at it.
The father/son duo started the race together.
NATE
At like a little bit before the halfway point, I started going a little harder and left him behind. I was trying to beat four (hours).
His finishing time of 3:32 was good enough for 55th overall.
Next, Nate wants to try a 31-miler.
Scott says running has made a “huge difference” in his son’s recovery from leukemia.
SCOTT
The big benchmark is five years post-diagnosis, which will be this upcoming June… Physically, psychologically, everything about cancer, I believe it’s made a difference with Nate. I don’t have a scientific study to prove that, obviously, but I do have our experience… I’m never going to have a regret for what we did or what we didn’t do. That’s kind of the motivation for why we do as much and I kind of let him push himself and do things that I’m sure I wouldn’t have if he didn’t have the same backstory, you know?
