In our “Why I’m Running” series, Boston Marathon athletes share what’s inspiring them to make the 26.2-mile trek from Hopkinton to Boston. Looking for more race day content? Sign up for Boston.com’s pop-up Boston Marathon newsletter.
**Name:** Brian Wishart
**Age:** 42
**City/State:** Marblehead, Mass.
I am running as the Chief of the Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine division at Spaulding Rehab to help support the hospital and adaptive sports programs.
At Spaulding Rehabilitation, we have a full team that is truly incredible at what they do. Each staff member—from physicians, therapists, nurses, case managers, and social workers to front desk personnel and care assistants—is dedicated and exceptional. We work every day in inpatient care, in the clinic, in the therapy gym, and through research to bring positive outcomes to all our patients.
Though we see wonderful results, there is always more work to be done. One of our goals is to better integrate the amazing research conducted at Spaulding into clinical care. Every child should have access to the best, most cutting-edge treatments, and we aim to ensure that happens here—regardless of where the children come from or their personal resources.
We also focus on less flashy but equally important innovations, such as how we educate and empower our patients or support them as they cope with a new reality.
Pediatric care is resource-intensive, requiring a great deal of expertise and multiple sizes of each piece of equipment. I am working to raise funds and support to think broadly and expansively about how we deliver care every day to every patient. This may include bringing meaningful research directly to the clinical setting or ensuring there are enough child life specialists with the resources they need to make children comfortable in the hospital.
It is a privilege to do this work every day, and I sincerely thank you all for any support!
*Editor’s note: This entry may have been lightly edited for clarity or grammar.*
https://www.boston.com/community/boston-marathon/2026/03/09/this-marblehead-man-is-running-the-boston-marathon-for-his-pediatric-patients/