Many runners participating in the Bank of America Chicago Marathon have inspiring stories.
Amy Gruenhut is among them.
Nearly five years ago, she was relearning how to walk, talk, eat and breathe on her own. Amy nearly died from viral encephalitis, a rare brain infection that left her in a coma for nearly a month and in the hospital for four months.
Amy also has multiple sclerosis, which she has lived with for more than 20 years. She will participate in the Chicago Marathon as an athlete with a disability.
“I started running in 2018,” she said. “A friend of mine who loves running forced me into running a half-marathon. I never thought I’d even do that. I couldn’t even run a mile. And I somehow continued after that half-marathon, and here we are,” she said.
Amy said she will be running with a guide, her good friend Brian, who’s coming in from New York for the race.
“I’m so lucky to be alive, I really am,” she shared. “I’m so grateful that doctors saved my life. Having to learn to walk and talk and breathing on my own and running marathons, like it’s kind of crazy. In the hospital, I kept pushing, and I kept saying I will run again. I could barely get out of bed. I was in a wheelchair and a walker, but I never gave up.”
Amy explained she felt she was destined to share her story.
“Surviving viral encephalitis and being in this coma, I think it made me realize that my story is so incredible, and you would never know what I went through 20 years before to get to having to go through another crazy nightmare to then survive again,” she stated. “So, never say never. Sometimes you can do incredible things. The body can do incredible things.”
Since her recovery, Amy has completed the New York City Marathon five times, as well as marathons in Chicago, Boston, London and Berlin. Three weeks after Chicago, she’ll run in New York City again, marking marathon No. 11.
