Born with an inherited condition called Usher Syndrome Type 2 that affects hearing and vision, Dennis has overcome many challenges since childhood. An inherited autosomal recessive disorder, which means both parents passed it on to him genetically. With 4 degrees peripheral vision in each eye, his vision field is limited to 3 inches in diameter, or about the size of a baseball.
Dennis has always set goals along the way in his life, and it was a quest to lose weight that set him on his marathon journey. He's always been a goal oriented guy. Whether it came to sports or work or education he always picked up a goal and tried to achieve it.
In Fall 2019, he retired at age 56 due to his vision loss increased. He started taking long walks with his mixed terrier, Cali. The walks became longer, and soon in April 2020 he began running 5 and then 10 miles each day in his Madawaska, ME neighborhood. Dennis completed his first marathon at Revel Series Sun Valley in June 2021. Then he heard about Abbott World Marathon Majors which he set his goal to achieve.
He's completed Chicago 2021, NYC 2021, Boston 2022 and Berlin 2022. His 2022 Boston Marathon time 3:34:49 was his personal best and placed 4th as a T11/T12 Para-athlete runner. He qualified for 2023 Boston as an Open Athlete with a 15 minutes 11 seconds buffer. He will be 60 when he runs Boston 2023. He's looking forward to completing the 5th star in London 2023, and hopefully run Tokyo 2024.
His children, Isabelle 19 1st year in college at UMaine, and Geoffrey 17 Senior in high school, accompanied Dennis to Chicago, Boston and NYC to spend four-day weekends and experience city life.
Dennis is an USA T12 Para-athlete and does require a guide runner for the races. For London 2023, since it will be 6 days after Boston, he plans to finish in about 3 hours 45 minutes. (Anyone interested can get in touch with Runbuk and Runbuk will help to connect.)
If Dennis completes the Abbott World Major Marathons, he could be the 1st legally blind / profoundly deaf T12 Para-athlete to get the 6 stars metal. This will mean a lot to him to accomplish this awesome goal. He wants to offer encouragement for others living with disabilities. No matter what disabilities they have, they shouldn’t give up on their goals and objectives in life.
“Running is a Beautiful Journey in Life” - Dennis Lavoie