Nissa Sampson was running the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on her own birthday when she hit Mile 23 and found the one surprise that could keep her legs moving: her dog Zissou, who is battling an untreatable cancer, waiting curbside in a bandana that read “Happy Birthday Mom.”
Sampson ran the race for the Live Like Roo Foundation, the Chicago-area nonprofit that helped cover Zissou’s cancer treatments, according to NBC Chicago. Zissou’s cancer cannot be cured, though chemotherapy can slow its progression, and the dog was estimated to have 540 days to live. The marathon on Sunday fell on day 268 of that estimated timeline, according to the same report.
Before the race even began, Sampson texted her husband, Chris Griffith, from the starting line — a message for Zissou, per NBC Chicago’s account. The outlet also reported that Sampson had lost her cat to cancer around the same time Zissou was diagnosed, adding another layer of weight to a year already defined by loss and uncertainty.
A Surprise Planned Along Rescue Row
The reunion at Mile 23 was not spontaneous. Sarah Lauch, executive director of the Live Like Roo Foundation, planned the moment with Griffith and had it captured on camera, the station’s report noted. The stretch of South Michigan Avenue where it happened sits within the marathon’s official community cheer zone for charity runners, spanning roughly Mile 22 to 24 — a section known as Rescue Row for the concentration of animal welfare cheer stations there, according to the Bank of America Chicago Marathon…