Doctor running Columbus Half Marathon with young patient in mind

COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) — More than 13,000 runners will be running through the streets Sunday for the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus Marathon and Half Marathon, with 24 of the 26.2 miles will be dedicated to patients known as “Marathon Mile Champions.”

When runners reach mile 24, it will be all about 7-year-old Breelyn Stroupe, who was born deaf.

“When she came to us, she could not hear and it was very difficult. She had one cochlear put in at age 1. Due to family life and her life there was not very good, we got custody of her and her two sisters,” said her grandmother, Ellen Muncy.

Breelyn has been treated at Nationwide Children’s Hospital for years due to her bilateral sensorineural hearing loss.

“It’s incredible just to think where this little one came from, where she couldn’t talk. She couldn’t communicate,” said Muncy.

That’s where Dr. Prashant Malhotra comes in. Muncy worked alongside him before she retired, and Malhotra gave Breelyn’s older sisters their cochlear implants. Now he is helping Breelyn with her implants.

“The level of the noise was so scary for her, so they were able to bring her up slowly and that was really beneficial,” said Muncy.

Breelyn is developing every day now in both her speech and sign language. To celebrate how far she has come, Malhotra is running this weekend.

“I actually was at first thinking about not running this year but then I realized I couldn’t do that because Breelyn and her family are really important to me,” Malhotra said.

Each champion gets to choose a theme for their stretch of the course. Breelyn and her family decided butterflies were fitting.

“Because they can fly and they have different colors,” said Breelyn Stroupe.

Malhotra said he will definitely be making a stop at mile 24.

“I plan to stop and see her butterfly wings. I mean how could I not,” Malhotra said.

The marathon and half marathon kick off at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday from North Bank Park.

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