Sarcoma Strong warriors run and walk at UAlbany

ALBANY — The UAlbany campus was filled with warriors.

This was the first in-person Sarcoma Strong run and walk since 2019.

People from 30 states and 10 countries took part in different events for Sarcoma Strong.

The goal is to raise awareness, raise money for research, celebrate the sarcoma warriors– the survivors– and advocate for them and their families.

“It’s really an inspirational event,” said Dr. Matthew DiCaprio, founder of Sarcoma Strong. “The patients, their families, they’re really the driving force behind this. It’s why we started this organization– to support them, to raise awareness of what sarcoma is, which is a rare form of cancer that affects our soft tissues and our bones, and to raise needed funds for research.”

“I was diagnosed with sarcoma in 2018 and spent a lot of time with Dr. DiCaprio between 2019 and 2020 getting surgery, and it’s a cause obviously that’s close to my heart, close to my family’s heart,” said runner and survivor Michael Painter.

“There will be a lot of people, and Matt will say, hey, can you talk to this person, talk to that person, yeah, we’ll share experiences, and you can see it makes people feel better. give them a little bit of hope,” said survivor Nick Esposito.

Congressman Paul Tonko gave the kickoff address and Newschannel 13’s Kumi Tucker took part as MC of the event.

Sarcoma Strong met- and passed- their goal of raising $150,000 this year.