Daniel Romero: Glioma Survivor Running for Research

With his brain cancer in remission, Daniel Romero is excited to join with others at the AACR Philadelphia Marathon to raise funds for lifesaving cancer research.

For Daniel “Danny” Romero, running marathons is a way to ease the stress of being a brain cancer survivor.

“It’s a great way to clear your mind,” he said. “It’s a great way to have these goals and to find a way to accomplish them.”

Danny is looking forward to running in the AACR Philadelphia Marathon on November 24, 2024, as a member of the AACR Runners for Research, which he thinks is “a great way to support our community” of those affected by cancer.

Danny took up running in 2019 after some friends ran in the Chicago Marathon.

“It was just something that really intrigued me, something I wanted to do when COVID hit,” he said. 

He had become an enthusiastic runner when the next big thing happened in his life. At a family wedding in 2022, he suffered a seizure and was diagnosed with glioma, a type of brain cancer. Surgeons were able to remove 90% of the tumor. Danny received radiation treatment for six weeks and then underwent chemotherapy for about a year. 

He was visiting his sister in Asheville, North Carolina, recovering his strength but able to do little more than walk, when he resolved to get back to running. 

“I was thinking it would be fantastic if I could start running again,” he said. “I just kept thinking, how do I build towards doing a race?” He decided to focus on a half-marathon in his hometown of Monterey, California.

“I just set a goal of being able to run in the race and just finish it,” he said. “Once I was able to do that, the itch just got stronger and stronger for wanting to compete in more and more events. So, I ended up running my first full marathon a year after my diagnosis. Now, I just want to keep improving my time. It’s more of the competitive edge coming out now.”

Danny has now run eight half-marathons and two full marathons and is looking forward to the 2024 AACR Philadelphia Marathon. He is excited for the companionship of running with other AACR Runners for Research. 

“I actually do enjoy running by myself sometimes, just because it allows you to kind of focus on that task as opposed to everything else that is going on,” he said. “But it’s also great to run in a community with people who have shared interests.”

He hopes to qualify for the Boston Marathon and is keeping an eye on the qualifying times for that event. 

“I noticed this year the qualifying time for my age group went down another five minutes, so it might not be in the near future,” he added with a chuckle. “But I’m hoping, down the line, that it would be something that I accomplish. It would be an amazing thing for me to do.”