LISBON, Iowa (KCRG) – Dean Mallie’s sons pushed him in a wheelchair through the Lisbon Sauerkraut Days 5K on Saturday, nearly two years after he was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.
Mallie, a Lisbon native, had run the course dozens of times before his diagnosis. He also ran in marathons alongside his sons when he was healthy.
“I can’t begin to think how many times I either trained on it or ran it, it’s just home,” Mallie said.
His son Dustin Mallie said the goal was participation, not performance.
“He’s at this point not necessarily able to run it in the way that he used to, but we can still participate. We can still get him across the finish line,” Dustin Mallie said.
The group finished the course in under 50 minutes. Mallie walked across the finish line as the community cheered.
Mallie said the cancer resulted from extremely high levels of radon in his home. Since his diagnosis, he has pushed for radon awareness and urged people to get their homes tested.
“We’ve gotten a lot of people tested and then they have an opportunity, if it’s needed, to get it mitigated or determine what they want to do,” Mallie said.
Mallie said he plans to keep fighting cancer the same way he approaches a race.
“We’ve called it a marathon, and that’s exactly what it’s been,” Mallie said.
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