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Fund Raising Initiative for Adam Booray

UPDATE from Coach Mike

Nov.23

Adam has been transferred out of ICU into the main wing of the hospital. He continues to need dialysis treatment, but for shorter duration than before, and every other day. I just spoke with Adam’s brother Salim, and he says Adam is getting stronger. I asked Salim to let Adam know that all his friends on the Westchester Track Club are thinking about him.

Mike Barnow

Adama

Adam (right) with Harbert at the 2013 5th Ave Mile

Adam

Adam, far right, with some of our Summer Camp runners this past August

Adam, far right, with some of our Summer Camp runners this past August

Fund Raising Initiative for Adam Booray

Two weeks ago (Sunday, 10/25), our WTC teammate and friend, ADAM BOORAY, collapsed suddenly at the finish line of his league cross country meet, in Philadelphia, PA. Adam was rushed to nearby Presbyterian Hospital, where it was determined he had suffered complete kidney failure.

Adam has remained in the ICU of the hospital, receiving daily dialysis treatment. For the first 10 days, Adam needed a breathing tube in order to breathe. Thankfully, he is now breathing on his own, and the duration of the daily dialysis sessions has been reduced significantly.

I am in touch with Adam’s brother, Salim, daily, and I have spoken to his doctors at the hospital. It is still not known when Adam will be well enough to be transferred out of ICU. Certainly, once he is out of the hospital, he will need long-term rehabilitation.

Adam’s Background: Adam came to the U.S. 5 years ago, as a refugee from war-torn Sudan. His parents bought him a plane ticket and he moved into an apartment with relatives in Harlem. He was taking a high school equivalency diploma class, in Harlem, when he first contacted me. (he had graduated from high school back home, but his school had been burned down in the civil war, and all records were lost)

Adam told me he had competed in track back home (800M), and had been a member of Sudan’s Jr. National Team. He began commuting twice a week to Tarrytown, to train with me and other WTC track athletes, on the Rockefeller Estate Trails. We hit it off right from the beginning, and I was immediately impressed not just with Adam’s athletic ability, but with the way he fit right in and connected with all the club members.

Adam and I had a special connection because of the fact that I had coached, on these very same trails, the “Rockies,” Adam’s National coach, Jama Aden. Jama, while a WTC member, had qualified for the ‘84 Los Angeles Olympic Games, setting a Somalian National Record at 1500M.

Adam has been one of our top track athletes the past 4 years, setting personal bests at 800M (1:50) and the mile (4:06), and has made so many friends along the way. Additionally, Adam has been a coach and mentor to the young athletes in our Scholastic Summer Cross Country Camp, where his soft and caring personality has motivated so many.

Adam graduated from Bronx Community College last May, and he was offered a full scholarship (1/2 academic, 1/2 athletic) to Dominican College in Orangeburg, NY. He chose molecular biology as his major and has been the #1 athlete on the school’s cross country team.

There were no warning signs of the terrible physical breakdown that occurred just 2 weeks ago.

I am starting a fundraising initiative for Adam and his family, to help with the medical costs that lay ahead. I am first reaching out to our WTC family, and I will also look to set up something on one of the established fundraising web sites and tell Adam’s story there as well. If anyone has any ideas I can be contacted at:

Mike Barnow 914-643-3619
mbarnow@aol.com

Donations can be made in two ways.

  • Gifts can be mailed to Coach Mike Barnow, with checks made payable to Westchester Track Club, 36 Chestnut Hill Road, High Falls, NY 12440
  • Donate online at www.crowdrise.com/supportforadambooray

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