A video showing a young boy helping his elder sister play basketball in Plymouth has gone viral and got nearly 7 million views.
7-year-old, Tomas MacCurtain was seen giving his big sister, Abigail, an assist. “I was just trying to help her to be able to play basketball with us,” Tomas said.
Abby MacCurtain has Leigh’s Disease, an infantile form of Mitochondrial Disease.
She was diagnosed at 9 months old and was not expected to live past the age of two.
She’s now nine years old. “It’s a neuromuscular disease. Her body cannot produce enough energy. Her body cannot turn food into ATP, which gives us life-sustaining energy,” said Abby’s father, Greg MacCurtain.
Abby uses a wheelchair to get around and is non-verbal, but has a firm zest for life.
Her father is a firefighter at Logan Airport, and will be running in his 3rd Boston Marathon in honor of his daughter.
“I say Abby, want to go for a run? And she shakes her head yes and we get the tunes going and she’s relaxing pretty much in the sun, and sometimes she’ll tell me to keep on going,” he said.
Greg and Abby have run numerous marathons and triathlons together and are now raising money through Team Abby Mac, whose proceeds will go to a team of researchers at Mass. General Hospital, where Abby has been treated since she was 3-years-old, to help find a cure for Leigh’s Disease.
But if the Boston Marathon due to be held in September gets canceled, Greg and Abby will run the 26.2 miles around their hometown of Plymouth.
You can donate to Team Abby Mac here.
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