'Amazing' Student Inspires Teacher's Boston Marathon Run

Shrewsbury resident and Westborough special education teacher Ashley Orlando is training for the 2013 Boston Marathon because a friend has leukemia.

Her friend, Mark, isn't what the person you might expect. He is an eighth-grader at the Gibbons Middle School in Westborough where Orlando worked with him as a long-term substitute 1-on-1 teacher for Mark's autism.

“He’s inspired me to do what I do, to want to help, to want to do more. I can’t pass up the opportunity,” Orlando, who will run the April 15 marathon with Team in Training, said.

“Hearing about this, you just feel so helpless: what can I do? I want to be there. I want to help."

Mark was diagnosed with leukemia on Oct. 29, and has been receiving chemotherapy, Orlando said.

“He was admitted right away, and they started treatment right away,” she said.

But that treatment isn't cheap. Orland has set a fundraising goal of $8,000 and with just under a week to go she is 96 percent there.

Orlando calls Mark “just an amazing, amazing kid. He has limited communication, which he makes up for in just his heart and his ability to connect with you on other levels.”

“While his language is limited, he does understand, and he is actually an incredibly fast learner at things. He has such a personality. He’s just an amazing boy,” she said.

Orlando says the 2013 Boston Marathon will be her second. She ran Boston in 2009 as a bandit; a runner who doesn't have a sanctioned number.

You can visit her fundraising page, irunformark.com, and follow along with a blog about her training, marks progress and even learn about Team in Training.