Sweat, Tears and Projectile Vomiting for a Great Cause

Written by Laura Paine / For Dirty Water News

Thursday, 25 March 2010 00:46

People never cease to amaze me. I generally do not mean that in a positive way, but every now and then
someone comes into my life that pleasantly surprises me with their good will, generosity and their
ability to crack me up when I have had less than a fabulous day. Enter Teddy Fleming, student,
bartender and philanthropist extraordinaire.

I had the pleasure of meeting Fleming at McFadden’s in Boston, where he mixes drinks for a thirsty
crowd once a week. He always has a smile on his face and keeps you entertained with his wit and
sarcasm. The Illinois native graduated from St. Norbert College, receiving a double degree in
Psychology and Sociology with a minor in Spanish. He is now in his last semester of grad school at
Boston College where he is studying social work.
O.K. Paine, what’s your point? Why should Dirty Water readers care about this guy Teddy Fleming?
Wait for it…
Fleming requested I join a Facebook group called, “Help Teddy Run the Boston Marathon,” which has
been set up to get people aware of and perhaps donate some money for the Campus School at Boston
College and is the Jack Kaczmarek Memorial Fund. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry and you’ll learn a lot about
a cause that, in my opinion, is incredibly important and too often overlooked.
LP: Tell me about the causes you are donating money to.
TF: I’m raising money for two different charities. The first is the Campus School at Boston College.
The Campus School is a private, publicly-funded special education school located on BC’s campus that
offers a full range of educational and therapeutic services to students with a variety of severe special
needs; generally in the cognitive, communicative and physical areas. The other charity I am running for
is the Jack Kaczmarek Memorial Fund, a charity set up after a young man from Newton, Jack, passed
away far too early from a rare disease. Money donated to the Jack Kaczmarek Memorial Fund will go
to support groups for the siblings of medically complex children.
LP: How did you come up with the idea to run the marathon to raise money for these causes?
TF: It’s funny, running was always the method of punishment for much of my athletic career – so I’d
be lying if I said I was in love with it. I only recently started doing it as a workout because I can’t
afford a gym membership. I learned of the BC team thanks to campus e-mail, and per my MSW
requirements, I’m currently an intern at MGH, so I caught wind of their marathon team that raises
money for pediatric oncology.
Since they are raising hundreds of thousands of dollars without my help, I wanted to see if I could raise
a little money for a couple of causes that don’t get that level of attention but are equally deserving of it.
LP: Why are these causes important to you?
TF: This is always the tough question to answer, because there’s no way to put it into words in a way
that does it justice. My sister, Abby, is the most important person in my life. She’s my older sister, and
she is intellectually disabled. To put it too simply, no matter how old she is chronologically she will
forever be at the developmental level of about a 7 or 8 year old child. [The] Truth is, I wouldn’t be who
I am today if not for her. I was born into a situation that demanded and a family that valued living a life
for others. These individuals and their siblings are just as deserving as the next person to have the
opportunity for the most meaningful life they can possibly have – but the truth is, the majority of the
time there’s a lot, maybe too much, in the way for that to happen. That’s what it’s all about – not about
what happened in the past or what might happen in the future but the hope that we all have the
opportunity to experience this gift of life to the fullest. Maybe I’m naïve, maybe I’m delusional, but
maybe by raising awareness and money for these causes we can create a better chance for these kids to
have that. Without Abby, I wouldn’t believe in that – and that’s fuckin’ scary.
LP: How can people donate money to you that may not know you personally?
TF: First of all, much love and thanks to everyone for listening to me babble on about all this. If
anyone does want to send some love along in the form of donations, there’s a way to do it for each
charity. If you want to donate to the Campus School, get yourself onto Facebook and join the group
“Help Teddy Run the Boston Marathon,” all the instructions for donating are there. If you want to
donate to the Jack Kaczmarek Fund, check out my donation website at
www.firstgiving.com/teddyfleming. No donation is too small, and you’re welcome to donate to one or
the other, or both. Much love.
Fleming also mentioned that to prepare for the marathon he has been “crying a lot” and running 30
miles a week, at least, for the last couple of months. You can look for him in downtown Boston on
Sundays. He’ll be “the guy with the beard projectile vomiting.”
You can find the BC team on race day, April 19th. Fleming will be amongst those wearing the Campus
School t-shirts.
“More specifically, I’ll be the guy with the beard, clearly in pain,” Fleming said.