At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, British runner Derek Redmond was finally healthy and running well in the 400-meter semifinal. About 150 meters in, his right hamstring tore and he crumpled to the track. He waved off the stretcher and started hobbling toward the finish. His dad, Jim, pushed past the officials, came onto the track, put his arm around his son, and helped him along while 65,000 people stood and cheered. Right before the line, Jim let go so Derek could finish the race on his own.
Dick Hoyt’s son Rick was born with cerebral palsy and couldn’t walk or talk. Starting in 1980, Dick began pushing Rick in a custom racing chair in the Boston Marathon. Together they finished 32 Boston Marathons, their last in 2014, and their 1,000th race together came at Boston in 2009. Dick passed away in March 2021, and the Boston Athletic Association remembered him for his determination, passion, and love.
In November 1873, Anna Spafford and the couple’s four daughters sailed for Europe on the S.S. Ville du Havre while her husband Horatio stayed behind in Chicago on business. The ship was rammed by another vessel and sank within minutes. Anna was pulled from the water unconscious, but all four girls drowned, and she sent Horatio a cable that began ‘Saved alone.’ On his way across the ocean to bring her home, Horatio wrote that he had passed over the spot where the ship went down, but that his girls were safe, folded, the dear lambs. Out of that grief came the hymn we still sing, ‘It Is Well with My Soul.’
