2023 Memorial Run for Adam Fishman

Hi, folks. My name is Jake Fishman and I have started this fundraised in honor and memory of my brother, Adam. Adam battled addiction and mental illness for years. On March 11, 2017, Adam died of a heroine/fentanyl overdose.

If you're reading this, you likely already know much of my brother, Adam's, story. You may have even been lucky enough to know Adam. He was a kind, intelligent, funny and passionate person. Adam dealt with addiction from his late teens up until his death in 2017, two weeks before his 26th birthday. During his years-long struggle with addiction, Adam had periods of sobriety, some longer than others. He spent time in several rehabs, but only one stands out. Helping Up Mission was the one place that truly helped Adam find himself again and helped keep him sober longest. When he left The Mission in June 2013, I recognized my brother for the first time in a longtime.

Adam's turn for the worse occurred over the holidays in 2016/2017. The final two weeks of his life were spent in the Inpatient Psychiatric Unit at the University of Maryland Medical Center where he received incredibly compassionate care. Upon discharge from UMMC on March 10, 2017, he had two weeks of sobriety under his belt and had reconnected with me, our mom and our dad. All of us had communicated with him regularly while he was inpatient and we had begun to rebuild a relationship. He had plans to return to The Mission the following day, but he never made it there.

For the past three years, I have run varying distances in remembrance of his birthday and to honor his life and death. Each year, funds have been raised to donate to Helping Up Mission. To date, with everyone's generosity, we have been able to donate over $25,000 to Helping Up Mission.

Adam's story is tragically not unique. Addiction and mental illness are both far too stigmatized in our society, which does nothing to help end the crises. If you take nothing else from reading this, please help to end that stigma by talking about and confronting it.

Adam would be turning 32 on March 25th, 2023. This year, rather than attempting to complete a specific distance, I will be undertaking a time challenge to run as many miles as possible in a continuous 12-hour period.

The run will be on Saturday, March 25, 2023. If you are interested in more details and possibly participating (either as sideline support or to run some miles with me), please get in touch with me by sending me a message here or on Instagram (jfish99).

All funds raised through this will go to Helping Up Mission in Adam's memory. Some of the funding may be used for specific programs at Helping Up Mission, including acupuncture treatments for those in recovery. You can read more about the HUM and the important work they do here: https://helpingupmission.org.