NEW BRITAIN, Conn. — More than 2,000 runners are expected to be at the Eversource Hartford Marathon. Some of those runners will be on the Hartford Marathon Foundation's 2022 Inspiration Team.
Each member of this team is nominated by someone because they serve the community in various ways. Each of them has a story of perseverance.
One of those 12 people is Dr. David Buono. Buono’s day job is being the Chief of Emergency Medicine at The Hospital of Central Connecticut.
“I love the chaos and confusion of the emergency room. That’s what it is every day. It’s always different,” said Buono.
But after hours, he turns in his tie for a t-shirt and running shoes.
“It’s my stress relief therapy and it keeps me sane,” said Buono.
That form of therapy came to a stop when he got a diagnosis he wasn’t expecting
“It was tough,” said Buono.
He’s been walking up and down the halls of the hospital for more than 30 years, but this year he became a patient. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer after a routine check-up which led to surgery.
“I spent the last couple of years thinking I don’t need it, thinking everything was okay so I finally went to get my exam and it shocked me because when my results came back I was looking at my cholesterol and my PSA was high so that means it’s possibly cancer,” said Buono.
That surgery put his running shoes in the closet for at least a month, but his determination never rested.
“I signed up for the Hartford marathon even before I had the surgery,” said Buono. “In the beginning, I thought I won’t be able to do this, but I am thick-headed and was like yeah I am going to do this."
He’s been running the Hartford Marathon for two decades. He said prostate cancer wasn’t going to stop him this year either.
“I wanted something else to focus on. I wanted the race to be my focus not the cancer,” said Buono.
He said this journey showed him that life is a marathon, not a sprint, he’s now running with a new mission.
“I want people to understand that screening examples are important and going back to the beginning, I had no symptoms. If it weren’t for that screening exam I would have never known I had cancer,” said Buono.
DeAndria Turner is a multi-media journalist at FOX61 News. She can be reached at dturner@fox61.com.
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