Brentwood’s Mike Karl runs, bikes to honor late son Sean and raise funds for pediatric cancer research
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. (BVM) — Whenever 57-year-old Brentwood resident Mike Karl prepares to run a marathon, typically dressed in his favorite Tennessee Volunteers gear, he thinks of his son Sean. By all appearances, Sean was a healthy, vibrant and energetic teenager.
“He was a jokester,” Mike said about Sean. “He liked to hang out with all of his buddies and do all of the other stuff that they all do, but once he walked into a sporting environment, he got very competitive and very focused quickly. He always wanted to be the best.”
Skilled in the sport of tennis, Sean quickly became one of the top recruits in the country and earned a scholarship to continue his tennis career at the University of Tennessee, much to the chagrin of Mike.
“As his father, I was totally against Tennessee at first,” Mike said. “It’s in state. Why would you want to go to Tennessee when you could go to Stanford, Texas, Texas A&M? And he said to me, ‘Dad, you’re missing it. It’s all about the guys on the team. I need to have a connection with them.’ … I think with his visits there he came back and said, ‘This is the place that’s right for me.’”
But then, seemingly out of nowhere, he was no longer the healthy child he appeared to be.
Right before he could begin college in 2012, 18-year-old Sean was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer called Ewing Sarcoma. The news was a shock for the Karl family.
“I didn’t even know what Ewing Sarcoma was, that’s the sad part behind the thing,” Mike said. “I was thinking, it can’t be that bad since I never heard of it. Sure enough it turned out to be that way. I remember [my wife] Laurie and I were very emotional and Sean saying, ‘I’ve got it. Don’t worry.’ He was definitely the strong one in the family.”
Although he would be on hiatus from the tennis court for a while, he still signed with the Volunteers team only a month after his cancer diagnosis. For 10 months, Sean fought hard through chemotherapy and radiation and was declared cancer free in July 2013.
“The chemotherapy absolutely drills these kids, it is horrendous what it does on these kids physically,” Laurie said. “Sean took a beating. But to his credit, he tried to get up and walk everyday, he saw his friends and a month in he went out and hit tennis balls. He kept a very positive attitude through the whole thing which helped us as a family as well.”
During the fall season in 2013, Sean was able to achieve his dream of playing for the Volunteers, winning five matches. It was an incredible experience to watch Sean be able to finally make it to the court like he had dreamed.
“Just him getting back out and playing and doing what he loved was just incredible,” Mike said. “We couldn’t have asked for anything more. As a family and for him, we thought he was clean.”
But in November, he discovered that the disease returned. A year later on Nov. 16, 2014, Sean passed away after his long battle with the illness. He was 20 years old.
“We are not even a month shy of six years since he passed,” an emotional Mike said. “I can tell you, six years later, it’s not good. You would not wish this on anybody and that’s why we started the foundation.”
The Sean Karl Foundation, which was created by the Karls in honor of their son, has been raising funds towards the fight against Ewing Sarcoma and other forms of pediatric cancer for six years. Having witnessed firsthand the plight many parents who have children with pediatric cancer face, the Karls knew something needed to be done.
“The amount of pain parents are going through because of the underfunding of pediatric cancer is unbelievable,” Mike said. “We knew at that time somebody had to jump in here and do something about the underfunding of pediatric cancer. It’s not easy because you’re reliving it a lot, but at the same time you’re trying to leave the world a better place than we came.”
Mike was with his son throughout his entire battle. From his first diagnosis, through his therapy, through his college career and to the end, he watched his son fight through intense pain as the cancer ravaged his bones. He witnessed firsthand how much his son had suffered through the terrible disease and so when he thought of ways to suffer in a similar fashion while also raising money for his son’s charity, marathons came to the forefront.
Mike, a former biathlete, had run marathons in his younger days, but that didn’t matter. He wanted to run for his son and wanted to do well for him.
“I really hadn’t run in a race in a long, long time, but in Sean’s honor I wanted to run a marathon,” Mike said. “I knew it would be intensive. I knew it would be a lot of training. I knew it would be a lot of pain. That was the point behind it. I wanted to do something that made me realize and remember the pain, the suffering that he went through.”
This is why Mike always thinks about his son as he prepares to run for marathons. Even while he is suffering through the painful 26.2 miles, he thinks of the battle his son endured and how through it all he was able to keep his same positive energy. That pushes Mike to continue on his run.
“It is a beautiful moment for me to be out there struggling, feeling pain, wondering why I’m out there and looking back and saying, ‘You’re doing nothing compared what your son went through.’”
Mike’s goal is to run a marathon in each of the 50 states. He has run a marathon in 38 states to date and is only missing marathons in California, Alaska, Hawaii and 10 other states.
The COVID-19 pandemic did throw a bit of a wrench in Mike’s plans with many marathons being canceled to prevent the spread of the virus. Instead of halting his progress raising funds, Mike shifted gears, literally. In May, Mike decided another great way to raise money for the foundation would be to complete a bike ride across the country while states were shut down.
“I always wanted to bike across America,” Mike said. “That was always on my bucket list as something I wanted to complete down the road. Then COVID comes and all the marathons get shut down. The whole country is shut down. With the country shut down, that means the roads will be pretty clean and pretty open. This would be a wonderful time to bike across America.”
With Laurie following behind in a camper, Mike completed the trek in 24 days, going 3,172 miles from Yorkside, Calif. to Yorktown, Va. Although he faced many hardships during the trip including 115 degree temperatures in Arizona, Mike still claims the marathons are more difficult.
“Once we made it public there was no way I was going to give in,” Mike said. “The amazing thing was I had no troubles. I had no issues whatsoever. I was able to average 132 miles a day. … Running the marathons is more taxing on my body versus that bike ride. On one side, it was great riding that bike where I don’t have the jarring on my joints, but at the same time you want to get things accomplished. It’s out there saying, ‘You’ve still got 12 more.’”
The couple had gone into the cross country event with the goal of raising $31,000 for the foundation. By the end of the journey, the foundation had raised $51,527.
“It was a real eye opener to see how inspiring this was to other people,” Laurie said. “We knew it was a terrible time to do a fundraiser. In the end, after raising $55,000, it totally blew our expectations. We were kind of blown away by not only the incredible emotional support, but also the financial support as well.”
In September, Mike was able to return to the marathon course, running one in Iowa, his 37th state. The next month, Mike was able to win the Arkansas marathon, obtaining his 38th state in tremendous fashion. With him on the run, as always, was Sean.
“It is for him,” Mike said. “It is my time with my son in my thoughts, in my pain, in my suffering. … I think he would think, ‘Dad you’re like you’ve always been, you’re a little crazy.’ I think he would be proud of us. Proud that his father, his mother and his brothers are trying to do something to make this world a better place to live in. It takes all of us and I feel this was our calling.”
Mike will continue to look for new ways to honor his son as the years go on because his 50th state is fast approaching. He has his mind set on the “Big Six” marathons in London, Berlin, Tokyo, Boston and Athens. With Sean continuing to motivate him with every step, in every event, every day, it’ll only be a matter of time before Mike finishes those marathons too.
To catch up on Mike’s 50 state goal or to donate to the Sean Karl Foundation visit: https://seankarlfoundation.org/
