Robby was diagnosed with a brain tumor at 18. Today he's running to give back to the hospital that helped save his life. His story is part of a wave of runners turning marathon training into a fundraising mission for Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.
Robby was diagnosed with a brain tumor at 18, according to FOX 32 Chicago. He is running to give back to the hospital that helped save his life, the station reports. FOX 32 has also launched its own campaign, aiming to raise $10,000 directly for Team Lurie Children's ahead of the race.
Robert is running as part of Team Lurie Children's, a charity group whose members commit to raising between $2,200 and $2,500 by October 1 in exchange for a guaranteed race entry, according to Lurie Children's own event guidelines. Lurie Children's runners participate in major world marathons, joining a pipeline that has become one of the primary ways to secure a spot in a race that would otherwise be out of reach for most amateur runners.
According to the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, only charities participating in its official Charity Program have access to guaranteed entries.
A Marathon Increasingly Built on Charity Miles
General registration for the 48th Bank of America Chicago Marathon, set for October 11, is sold out, though entries remain available through the charity program. Roughly one-third of its 55,000-runner field is expected to compete for official charity teams. Interest in the race has swelled to more than 200,000 applicants this year, underscoring just how central charity bibs have become to getting on the starting line at all.
The financial stakes behind that charity field are enormous. Runners in the 2025 race raised a record-breaking $47.1 million for causes across the city, pushing the marathon's official Charity Program total past $405 million raised since 2002, an $11 million jump over the prior year's record. According to the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, 2025 participants raised a record $47.1 million for local, national and global nonprofits, $11 million more than the previous year's total. Hoodline previously reported on the race's $756 million local economic impact tied to that same fundraising surge.
Inside Lurie Children's Brain Tumor Program
Robert's treatment falls under the umbrella of Lurie Children's Susan and Roger Stone Family Brain Tumor Program, among the largest pediatric neuro-oncology programs in the nation. The program treats more than 160 pediatric brain tumor patients each year through a weekly multidisciplinary review board that brings together neurosurgeons, neuro-oncologists, radiologic specialists and supportive care teams.
Lurie Children's treats more than 266,000 children annually and was ranked #4 nationally in pediatric oncology and #7 in pediatric neurology and neurosurgery by Newsweek this year, cementing its status as the largest pediatric specialty provider in the Chicago metropolitan region.
The stakes behind that ranking are sobering. Central nervous system and brain tumors are the most common solid tumors diagnosed in children under 19 nationwide, with nearly 5,000 pediatric cases diagnosed annually, according to the American Cancer Society. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, brain tumors had an incidence rate of 30.9 per 1 million in the cited national analysis of childhood cancer. Brain tumors remain the leading cause of cancer-related death among children and adolescents in the United States, even though overall five-year survival rates have climbed to approximately 75.5%, with many long-term survivors facing ongoing physical and cognitive challenges. According to the National Cancer Institute, 60% to more than 90% of childhood cancer survivors develop one or more chronic health conditions.
New Research Aimed at Kids Like Robert
This month, Lurie Children's launched a first-in-kids clinical trial for 186RNL. Marathon charity teams raise funds for the hospital, alongside other donor and fundraising efforts.
Lurie Children's has drawn on Chicago's endurance sports community before. Last month, the corporate challenge category at Supertri Chicago raised over $90,000 for the hospital, part of a pattern in which local athletic events consistently serve as fundraising drivers for the institution, as Hoodline previously reported.
As Robert logs his training miles ahead of October 11, his run stands as one entry point among Team Lurie Children's runners carrying the hospital's singlet across marathons worldwide this year. Whether the ultimate destination is a finish line in Grant Park or a hospital hallway, the fundraising built into that journey is helping support the hospital's work.
