(Can ) Father-son bond of Dick and Rick Hoyt

My vendor sent me this..And damn, my tear ducts are running again...full force.

Just wanted to share this story of Dick Hoyt which touches my very soul. It may be abit long but please read the whole story before clicking the link to the video.

Dick pushes his disabled son, Rick through 85 26.6 miles marathons. 8 times he not only pushed but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars of his bicycle - all in the same day!

Dick also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him mountain climbing on his back and once hauled him across US on a bicycle.

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much - except saved his life.

The story begins 43yrs ago when Rick was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him "Brain Damaged" and unable to control his limbs.

Instead of resigning to their fate, the Hoyts believed that Rick's brain is not "Damaged" as described by the doctors. When Rick was 11, they took him to the engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was anything to help the by communicate. ``No way, there's nothing going on in his brain." They told Dick after some testing. "Tell him a joke,'' Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a lot was going on in his brain...

Rigged up with a computer that allowed him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his head, Rick was finally able to communicate. With sheer determination, Rick was able to go to the public school like any kids.

During his high school a classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the school organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, ``Dad, I want to do that.'' on his keyboard.

Wanting to help Rick fulfill his wishes, Dick who had never run more than a mile at a time, pushed his son through the 5 miles race.

That changed Rick's life, ``Dad,'' he typed, ``when we were running,it felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!'' and this sentence changed Dick's life forever.

He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling...... This is the beginning of Team Hoyt's many runs from 5 miles to 26.6 miles from just running (marathons) to running, swimming and cycling (triathlons, ironmans).

All that, coming from someone who had never run more than a mile, never learned to swim and had not ridden a bicycle since he was 6.

Dick is 65 and Rick is 43 this year, they have just finished their 24th Boston Marathon in 5083rd place out of 20,000 starters. Their best time is 2 hrs, 40mins in 1992, only 35 minutes off the world record!!

Now, how did Rick, saved Dick's life??? Two years ago, Dick suffered a mild heart attack during a race. doctors found one of his arteries was 95% clogged. ``If you hadn't been in such great shape,'' one doctor told him, ``you probably would've died 15 years ago.''