BU MED student runs Marathon for charity

For most local college students, the Boston Marathon is about enjoying the day off. But for School of Medicine graduate student Alexandra Stillman, it is an opportunity to attain funding for research and raise awareness of liver disease.

As a medical student who plans to specialize in neurology while working at Beth Israel hospital, Stillman has a busy schedule.

She does not have ample time to train because she spent much of the year around the country, attempting to get residency position at various hospitals.

“I would like to think that I was disciplined before I began training,” she said.
Stillman trained for the marathon by running eight miles twice during the week and 16 miles once every weekend for the past year. Recently, she has pushed her long run to 21 miles.

According to Stillman, who will be joined by 239 other runners from 26 states running on behalf of the American Liver Foundation, each participant in the group raised a minimum of $250. She said the group raised a total of $330,000 for research as of Jan. 29.

According to a press release issued by the American Liver Foundation, currently 30 million Americans suffer for liver disease, 50 percent of U.S. children and adolescents who are overweight or obese have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), one million Americans are chronically infected with the hepatitis B virus and over 15,000 affected children are hospitalized yearly.

Stillman recognizes the irony of running for the Liver Foundation after witnessing the public drunkenness on Marathon Monday at the past three marathons, but said only a small minority of cases of liver disease were caused by the overconsumption of alcoholism.

“That’s not to say that I do not think alcoholism is not a serious disease,” she said. “I have devoted the past nine years of my life researching alcoholism and I do my part to prevent it, but there are just so many causes of liver disease.”

While the most common cause of liver disease in general is hepatitis type A, B and C, Stillman said that she personally saw many cases of liver disease developing from autoimmune disease while conducting her research.

“The autoimmune-related causes most frequently appear in younger female patients, who inspired me to raise money for research,” she said.

Describing herself as a casual runner, who on a pleasant sunny weekend would run up to five miles, Stillman did not seriously consider running the marathon or any other type of race until this year.

“I never participated in any races before,” she said. “I thought that those who ran the marathon were insane, but then a friend of mine who suffers from narcolepsy finished the race last year for charity and I was inspired to run for a cause.”

Stillman developed many close relationships with patients who suffered from liver disease during her rotations, which ultimately lead her to choose the American Liver Foundation.

The American Liver Foundation matches patients suffering from the disease with runners through the “Patient Match Program,” their website states.

Throughout the training process, Stillman communicated with her patient, each offering encouraging words to each other to conquer the feats ahead of them.

Stillman said she is excited to personally meet the patient she has been matched with, who will be waiting at the finish line.

While Stillman did not qualify for the competitive race, her goal is to finish under five hours. According to the Boston Marathon website, the qualifying time for the competitive race for someone her age is three hours and 40 minutes.

“The worst-case scenario is that I will have to walk part of it, I am not nervous at all,” she said.

Two of Stillman’s MED friends, Alison Goldin and Sarah Freilich, will run the final six miles with her.

“I do not know if it’s actually legal for them to jump in and join me, but I heard it’s common to have your friends jump in,” she said.

Stillman said she will push herself to the finish with the help of her friends to cheer her on.

“If I can do it, anybody can do it,” she said. “Everyone says it’s mostly mental during the 22nd and 23rd miles; my mail goal is to keep on moving no matter what and I will have my group there to support me and my friends to cheer me on at the finish line.”