MJFF staff member Sam Fox (no relation to Michael) has shown determination since day one. Serving as an outreach and engagement officer at the Foundation, Sam has also grown into MJFF’s own in-house endurance athlete. He has taken on running the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) —2,500 miles from Canada to Mexico — and a 100-mile run from New York City to South Hampton in a single day. And he’s done it all in support of his mom, Lucy, who lives with Parkinson’s disease. His physical feats aim to raise awareness, and dollars, for PD research.
Now, he’ll be embarking on his ultimate challenge, the Tour de Fox. This 14,000 mile journey includes climbing and biking thousands of miles, on top of reaching to the highest peak in each of the lower 48 states, all within three months’ time. ESPN.com recently sat down with Sam to learn more about how he transformed a love for the outdoors into his own brand of philanthropy.
Sam has long been drawn to athletics. He was a multi-sport athlete at his Rhode Island high school before attending Yale where he was an all-Ivy League high jumper, qualifying for the NCAA East Regional Track and Field Championships in 2009. It was a few years later that a trip to the Grand Canyon (during which he ran down and back up the canyon without a second thought) would spark the idea to combine his athletic ability with his concern for his mom.
"I was starting to think about what I wanted to do long term, and that was really the first time I put any kind of real thought to it," he tells ESPN.com. "One of the things I kept coming back to was doing something for my mom, and I couldn't figure out what to do because I can't cure this disease. I'm not in med school. I'm not a billionaire. I didn't really have anything that was just an easy fix for her."
It was then that he realized he could push his own physical limits as a way to call attention to the need for improved therapies, and a cure, for Parkinson’s disease.
"So after that trip I kind of put two and two together that maybe there was a chance people would care that I could run really far. The PCT trip grew out of that."
When asked about what motivates his every step, Sam notes his mom’s experience living with Parkinson’s.
"I would think about my mom when I was out there (on the PCT) because we were doing this in honor of her," Fox tells ESPN.com. "She may feel the same stuff, the same ankle pain, the same dizziness, so in all honesty it brought me closer to her. That kind of defined my experience on the PCT."
Members of the Parkinson’s community are invited to join Sam this summer on Tour de Fox, which kicks off June 2. Participate in a climb or bike ride as Sam passes through your community or celebrate with him at one of many Tour de Fox events.
Read the full article on ESPN.com to hear more from Sam about what it’s like to take on millions of miles in support of Parkinson’s.