My dad, Brian Hutner, is one of those rare people who genuinely devotes his life to serving others. Beyond his professional career in psychology, he is the first person anyone calls when their car won’t start, their computer crashes, or they just want someone to talk music with. In him, I see the most remarkable and strongest of human qualities: a kindness that gives, simply and relentlessly.

Earlier this year, my dad was diagnosed with respiratory-onset ALS, after years of battling symptoms without a clear answer. 

ALS takes relentlessly. It brings intense suffering. It makes despair seductive.

And yet, throughout the worst of times, my dad’s unwavering commitment to kindness and helping others does not falter. He is still the friend that is one call away for any problem and he now volunteers with the ALS Association. Although despair grows perpetually more captivating, he endures that hope and kindness, coupled with action, are the proper response to suffering. He proves that regardless of the hell thrown at us, nothing can take away our power to choose how we respond. ALS is here, yet we can follow my dad's lead and strive to create something good from it. 

That is why I am running the race and raising donations. I want to show both him and my family that people care, and more importantly, we are following in his example that the best response to suffering is to act with hope and kindness. 

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“Always the same; we should be careful

Of each other, we should be kind 

While there is still time.”

- Phillip Larkin