BOSTON — Personifying the competitive spirit necessary to achieve greatness is nothing new for Chrissy Davidson Arisco, an assistant UConn Field Hockey coach.
As a field hockey player at UConn, Davidson Arisco helped lead the Huskies to back-to-back national championships in 2013 and 2014 in the process of earning All-American status. When her playing days ended, she returned to coach at her alma mater, and her drive to compete was not extinguished.
On Monday, Davidson Arisco will participate in the Boston Marathon, only she won’t be by herself.
For the entirety of the 26.2-mile course, Davidson Arisco will push her father Bill, who was disabled by a 2011 stroke. The two are raising money for the Hoyt Foundation, which aspires to build the character, self-confidence and self-esteem of individuals with disabilities through inclusion in all facets of daily life.
“Yes, I’m the one pushing us, but he’s my heart,” Davidson Arisco said. “People always laugh because I say it’s easier running with him than it is running alone. Yes, I’m pushing a 100-something-pound man in a chair, but he just carries me through it. He’s up there singing, having a great time. He’s honestly my motivation the whole way.”
Davidson Arisco has run marathons by herself before, but after competing with her dad, she can’t imagine participating in any other way. The father-daughter duo, who hail from Pennsylvania, took on the Pittsburgh Marathon three times, raising money for the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association.
When the opportunity to run the Boston Marathon arose, Davidson Arisco and Bill were all in. To better understand the roots of their resilience, one must become familiar with their story.
Bill was a healthy and active father and business owner when he suffered a massive stroke in 2011, which blocked access to parts of his brain’s right hemisphere. After multiple surgeries, the Davidsons were told it was unlikely that Bill would ever walk or work again. Doctors told the family that it would be hard for him to even think. However, quitting was never an option.
“He defied all the odds and relearned how to walk with a cane,” Davidson Arisco said. “He goes to work every day and owns a packaging company. His short-term memory struggles, but his long-term memory is great so he’s a good mentor and has a long-term understanding of the business.”
Watching Bill make progress inspired Davidson Arisco to study speech therapy at UConn and later in grad school at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. She remembers sitting in on her father’s speech therapy sessions, as Bill’s brain was rewired to compensate for what was lost.
When Davidson Arisco’s playing career overseas ended, she traveled to Massachusetts to watch a good friend compete in the Boston Marathon. She was blown away as she witnessed participants of all walks of life take on the course.
“The environment was so inspiring. I remember seeing blind runners with a guide, and I thought that would be so amazing to be able to be someone’s guide in a race,” Davidson Arisco said.
After running several marathons of her own, Davidson Arisco asked her mother if it would be realistic to push her father through an entire marathon. Davidson Arisco thought her mother might be skeptical and was overwhelmed by her support.
“Instead of being like, ‘You’re nuts,’ she said, ‘We can do that; we can make it happen.’ She was moved by the thought so we started digging into what chairs we needed to use and what foundation we should run for,” Davidson Arisco said.
Davidson Arisco said her first marathon pushing her father was an amazing experience. They enjoyed it so much that they participated multiple times in Pittsburgh. Davidson Arisco noted that running with her father is different than running by herself because they work together and help each other prevail.
“He’s honestly what keeps me going. He’s my motivation to work hard,” said Davidson Arisco. “I always said if he can choose to wake up every day and work as hard as he does and fight the battle he does, I can push him in a chair for five hours or whatever it takes us, and it’s five uninterrupted hours of father-daughter time where we get to be inspired by the people around us and also inspire the people around us.”
Now living in Providence, R.I., Davidson Arisco focused her attention on the Boston Marathon. A friend who has run the marathon several times encouraged her to connect with the Hoyt Foundation, which continues the legacy of Dick, Judy and Rick Hoyt.
The story of the foundation goes back to 1977, when Dick Hoyt pushed his disabled son Rick across the finish line of a five-mile race. Rick told his father, “Dad, when I’m running, it feels like I’m not handicapped.”
In the years that followed, the duo completed more than 1,000 races, including marathons, duathlons, triathlons and even Ironman competitions. In 1992, they biked and ran across the United States, completing a 3,735-mile journey in 45 days. The 2009 Boston Marathon was officially Team Hoyt’s 1,000th race.
“I started doing research and was absolutely astounded by their story and the advocacy that they did to get people with disabilities involved in everyday life activities,” Davidson Arisco said. “Because my dad and I were most connected to their charity, we thought, this is who we want to run with.”
The Hoyt Foundation selected Davidson Arisco and Bill to wear an honorary bib for Dick and Rick Hoyt in the Boston Marathon, which is especially meaningful after Rick passed away last May. Dick Hoyt passed away in 2021.
“Rick always used to say that his wish was that he could get out of his chair and push his dad in a race,” Davidson Arisco said. “So, they were really looking for a child who was pushing a parent, and we happened to apply this year, which just obviously makes it that much more special.”
When Davidson Arisco was selected, she did a deeper dive into the Hoyt Foundation and said it felt like “this is literally all my worlds colliding; the disability advocacy in education with my (past in) speech therapy and athletics.”
When she pushes her father on Monday, Davidson Arisco will be advocating to open opportunities for everyone to have a chance to participate in school and athletic settings, regardless of their abilities.
Davidson Arisco said it is easy to think about quitting when she runs by herself, but with her father in front of her, she sees more clearly. For those five hours, she says it is the “strongest I could ever feel.”
At some point Davidson Arisco expects to run a marathon by herself again, but when she can do it with her father, it’s an easy decision.
“To run with him is just such an honor because he’s a fighter. He’s taught me so much about the will to keep going,” Davidson Arisco said.
UPDATE: Davidson Arisco and her father Bill completed the Boston Marathon in 4 hours and 47 minutes on April 15.
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Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.
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