Support for Kayleigh and Sandy Williamson

Donate to support Kayleigh and Sandy on their ceiling smashing journey. There is so much more to this story of courage and strength...

Hi, my name is Tina Muir and I had the lifetime gift of spending 26.2 miles with Kayleigh and Sandy in the TCS NYC marathon on Sunday. I am the woman hugging Kayleigh in the marathon video. You have all seen, cried at, and been inspired by the video of her becoming one of the first (if not the first) women with Down Syndrome to ever finish the NYC marathon. Her reaction at the finish showed pure love, pride, and a true example of giving it absolutely everything you have. I wanted to do something to say thank you back.

But as someone who calls them both dear friends, I felt I wanted to do something more. There is so much more to this story than we have seen.

When Kayleigh was a baby, her mom, Sandy was told Kayleigh would not walk before age 5, if ever, to which Kayleigh showed flashes of the determination and grit the world fell in love with on Sunday.

At 15 years old, Kayleigh was diagnosed with sleep apnea and pre-diabetes. At age 18, Kayleigh was diagnosed with ITP, meaning her immune system was attacking her blood platelets, at age 24 Kayleigh was diagnosed with Graves’ disease, and at 26, her blood platelet level became life threatening, requiring an emergency splenectomy.

In 2014, Sandy and Kayleigh committed to a healthier lifestyle to give Kayleigh the best opportunity to live a better life, which involved changing their eating habits and more active lifestyle. In 2015, Kayleigh began running, and in April 2016, Kayleigh ran her first 5k and was hooked from then on. In January 2016, her graves disease went into remission and was no longer prediabetic or struggled with sleep apnea. The power of running!

In February 2017, Kayleigh made history for the first time, as the first woman with Down Syndrome to run a half marathon in the State of Texas at the Austin Half Marathon, and then again 2022, when she became the first person with Down syndrome to complete the Austin Marathon 8 hours and 24 minutes.

Kayleigh has written a children’s book, It's Cool To Be Me, dedicated to people with Alzheimer’s, which her late grandmother suffered from and which often occurs in people with Down syndrome. Her running journey is inspiring proof of what grit and heart can accomplish.

While they are a team in every sense of the word, as a single mom, as a family living off of a single income, Sandy has given up everything to be there for her daughter. I would love to help them recoup their costs to go to the marathon, and maybe give them an extra boost going into the holiday season to celebrate in the way they have always dreamed of.

So many people have been moved by their story, and I am definitely one of them, I want to make sure they can continue their journey together, as this strong, beautiful mother daughter duo they are. If their story has brought you joy, why not make their life a little easier and show your support to this single mom and her daughter.

Support Kayleigh's journey on Instagram here