Man runs 1,000 days straight in honour of Niagara Falls woman

The memory of a young Niagara Falls woman, Julianne Miszk, who braved cancer and other illnesses lives on as one man dedicates 1,000 straight days to run, in her name.

When Julianne was diagnosed with cancer she decided to take Niagara Falls councillor Mike Strange’s challenge to do anything 100 times, she chose to run.

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This inspired Rich Merlino to try after he saw Julianne running on social media, “…I thought, you know what, I’m going to try and run 100 days consecutive by myself,”

After Merlino’s 50th run, Merlino learned that Julianne had died. He continued lacing up, today was his 1,000 straight day of pounding the pavement in Julianne’s name.

Merlino says he’s raised $6,000 for children’s charities and he and Julianne’s parents are working to keep Julianne and other young people’s memories alive with a butterfly garden in Fireman’s Park in Niagara Falls.

Julianne mother, Bernadette Miskz says, “butterflies remind me of resurrection transformation, new life. It was also Julianne sign to me when she crossed over that she’d come back in the form of a butterfly. So that just touches my heart.”

The group is hoping the city of Niagara Falls allows online donations to make it easier to donate to the butterfly park. Currently, the city is only accepting donations via check.

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