Running to celebrate life Marathoner battles brain tumor by building stamina BY CHRISTINE VARNO Staff Writer Tim Ragan running in the Sgt. Pat 5K in Long Branch earlier this month. LONG BRANCH - - As runners gather at the Long Branch shore Sunday to take on the challenge of the Long Branch Marathon, one man will be running the race for another reason - to celebrate his life. Tim Ragan, 32, of Manasquan, is living with brain cancer and since being diagnosed with a brain tumor almost four years ago, he has embraced running as a way to cope with the illness. Through participating in the race on April 29, he also will be raising funds to support research by the National Brain Tumor Foundation. "I have tried to balance this extreme sickness with pushing myself to extreme health," said Ragan in an interview last week. "Running is a great stress reliever," he said, adding that running marathons plays a vital role in his battle with cancer. It helps me to feel not sick," he said. "Physically, I don't feel sick and fortunately, I haven't. "But, you know," he said, "I have cancer, so I am very sick. "By making myself strong enough to run marathons, it makes me feel strong enough to handle [the cancer]," he said. In 2003, while Ragan was working on his graduate degree in sculpture at the New York Academy of Art, he suffered a grand mal seizure. While being treated for the seizure, Ragan learned he had a "mass" in his brain. Just 11 days later, he underwent his first brain surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible, according to Ragan "It was not cancer," Ragan said, explaining that he continued to undergo MRI scans every six months to monitor what was left of the benign tumor. In July, at his regular checkup, something changed and a growth appeared on the scan. "It had grown enough to see it within the six months from my previous scan," he said. "At that point, it was probably more aggressive, which was bad news." So that same month, Ragan underwent his second brain surgery and learned that he had cancer. "It was like a punch in the gut," he said. "Everything had returned to normal for me after the first brain surgery. "But, there was always that thought in the back of my head that this could happen," he said, adding, "I guess you are always mentally preparing yourself." In the three years between the two surgeries, Ragan married, graduated with a master's degree in sculpture and began applying to medical schools. He also said he began to run again. Ragan first began to run his freshman year at Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft, but at that time he said he did it to be part of a winning team and had little passion for it. After running for two years in high school, he stopped until after being laid up on the couch for two weeks after his first brain surgery. Running, he said, has been his lifeline, making him feel mentally and physically stronger. Ragan trained for the Long Branch Marathon in 2004 but was forced to drop out. "I was kind of impatient with myself and I pushed myself to an injury and had to drop out," he said. He returned in 2005 and completed the race, finishing in 30th place. He did not run in the 2006 marathon after deciding to go back to school and balancing a heavy schedule of pre-med courses. Now, he said, he is ready for the 2007 Long Branch Half Marathon and for the first time, decided to raise money for the National Brain Tumor Foundation. In January, Ragan set a goal to raise $1,000 to support brain tumor research, but just two days after beginning to raise funds, he met that goal. "So, I set a goal of $10,000," he said. To date, Ragan has raised close to $16,000 to benefit the cause. "It has been pretty amazing," he said. "People have been really generous. I never expected to raise this much money." Ragan just completed his ninth cycle of chemotherapy treatments two weeks ago, and found that the tumor in his brain is shrinking. He still has several cycles of chemotherapy to undergo. "I have to say, my life is pretty good right now," he said. "I can't complain." He said that he feels like one of the lucky ones because his body has been able to handle the chemotherapy while still allowing him to train to run the marathon. "For some people, they do not handle it well," he said. "And for others it doesn't work. I am grateful. I have been really fortunate. "I attribute some of that to being young and in good health, but 80 percent of it is just luck," he said. Since Ragan did not know how his body would cope with the chemotherapy treatments, he said he only trained to compete in the half-marathon, which is 13.1 miles, rather than the entire course of 26.2 miles. He said he chooses to participate in the marathon in Long Branch because it is close to home and it is "a nice race and a good course." Ragan's next step in life is to take his future treatments cycle by cycle. "You can never let yourself get ahead of that," he said. Ragan has been wait-listed at two medical schools and hopes to know by June if he will be attending school in September. "I am just living my life," he said. "I'll probably pick another marathon to run in soon." For more information or to make a donation to the National Brain Tumor Foundation, visit www.RunTimRun.com.