The Longest Miles
Daniel Marcus lost his sight 18 years ago from a progressive eye disease, which didn’t stop him from meeting and marrying Jean.
Jean, 67, formerly a nun, and Daniel, who is Jewish, never stopped being active--swimming, dancing, traveling, going to the gym.
Last year, though, when tremors in his hands became obvious, Daniel found out he had Parkinson’s disease.
Now Daniel, 73, must use a wheelchair much of the time. But he and Jean have attacked the disease as if it was a game to be won. They follow every kind of research being done, they attend meetings and fund raisers.
And they run marathons.
Jean pushes, Daniel holds on for dear life. Last year, in a miserable rain storm, Jean pushed Daniel the last mile of the Los Angeles Marathon. The last mile was up and down a hill. Kind of like life.
But the Marcuses will be back for the L.A. Marathon on Sunday. Rain or shine. And they will bring reinforcements. Daniel calls them “The six beautiful ladies”--his wife and five other women who will help her. They all work out together in Irvine.
Jean and Daniel work out four times a week because they want to keep Daniel in shape for the cure they are certain is coming. They are rooting for a sunny day this year. And, as is their nature, Jean and Daniel are optimistic.
“The weather can’t be any worse than last year,” Jean said.
She is holding a photo from last year. Jean is standing behind Daniel, who is sitting in his wheelchair. Water is running off Jean’s head. Water is dripping off Daniel’s feet. But they are smiling and they did cross the finish line. Applause came from only a few volunteers and a couple of intrepid spectators.
“The water was running over my shoes,” Jean said. “I was going up over hills but that wasn’t as bad as the downhill part. The chair is heavy and Daniel weighs 170 pounds. He was hanging on for dear life, weren’t you Daniel?”
“For dear life,” Daniel said.
The couple finish each other’s sentences. Jean is gentle in guiding Daniel to the couch. They walk hand-in-hand to get the mail. Jean whispers to Daniel to watch a step or to pick up his foot at the curb.
They met at a swimming pool in Santa Ana 28 years ago. Daniel was divorced and Jean had recently left a convent in Michigan and moved West to start over as a teacher.
“After that first day at the pool,” Jean says, “I knew I was going to marry that man.”
On the night of the first meeting, Daniel asked Jean out to dinner. Then he asked her to drive. “He said he had trouble seeing at night but I didn’t think anything about it,” Jean said.
At the restaurant Daniel asked Jean if he could hold her hand. “He asked if he could do that so he wouldn’t stumble because of his sight. I thought it was just a pickup line and said no. He bumped into the wall but I still thought it was an act.”
Then at dinner Jean saw Daniel feeling for his silverware.
“It wasn’t a line,” Daniel said. “I was losing my sight.”
When Daniel was a 6-year-old in Brooklyn, he was diagnosed as having retinosa pigmentosa, a disease that progressively takes the sight. Although Daniel’s sight was failing each year, he got a degree in engineering and had a productive career at Hughes Aircraft and Aerospace.
In 1983, though, having already lost the ability to drive himself to work, Daniel realized he couldn’t see well enough to do his job. He retired. Now Daniel can’t see anything.
“I’ve never been one to feel sorry for myself,” Daniel said. “I just wanted to stay active and dance with my wife.”
That’s the attitude Daniel and Jean have carried into their fight against Parkinson’s. When his doctor told Daniel that exercise would help slow the disease’s progression, Daniel and Jean became regular users of the weight and rowing machines at a fitness center in Irvine.
When the Marcuses found out that Team Parkinson, a Southern California-based nonprofit effort organized and staffed by volunteers, was competing in the 2000 marathon, Daniel and Jean signed up and raised about $3,700. This year, Team Parkinson is the official charity of the marathon. Daniel and Jean hope to raise at least $5,000 themselves and Team Parkinson hopes to raise more than the $50,000 it raised last year.
Joining Jean in pushing Daniel’s chair will be Daniel’s daughter, Joan Marcus Colvin of Aliso Viejo; Debbie Vincent; Roswitha Kager; and Yemmy Taylor of Irvine and Patricia Keohane of Tustin.
Each will push Daniel a mile. Joan will take the final hilly mile again. “I know what to expect now,” Joan said. “I’m better prepared.”
Prepared to finish another race. Prepared to have Daniel ready for the cure. “Within five years there will be one,” Jean said. “I’m convinced. That’s how close the researchers are. That’s what we thought about, Daniel and I, as we were getting blown around in the rain last year. That’s what we’ll think this year.”
