Surgeon returns to scene of injury to host race
Dr. Rex Marco used to spend long hours at Memorial Park riding his mountain bike and working out before his spinal cord injury in 2019, when he flipped over his handlebars riding one of the park’s trails.
Now a quadriplegic, Marco and a team of his supporters are prepared to return to the park for the first time since his injury for the second annual Reeve Run & Roll Virtual 5K.
“The park holds a very special place in my heart and in my mind,” Marco said. “I’m not sure what it’s going to be like on that day, but I’m sure it will be both a sad and happy moment for me.”
Through Sunday, participants of all athletic abilities will converge to run, roll, cycle, swim, surf, dribble, walk in support of spinal cord research.
The virtual 5K is hosted by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, an organization dedicated to curing spinal cord injuries through research and improving the quality of life of those affected. The organization has a singular mission — challenge the notion that the spinal cord can never be recovered or repaired after injury.
In November 2020, Marco donated $1.1 million to the foundation to help accelerate research and provide advocacy support for those impacted by paralysis. To date, Marco serves as chief medical ambassador for the foundation.
Before his injury, Marco was a nationally renowned spinal surgeon and musculoskeletal oncologist at Houston Methodist Hospital. He entered the profession because he wanted to save lives in high-risk cases, such as performing surgery on people paralyzed in car accidents and cancer patients with tumors in their spines.
Now, Marco has four sons, including a 1-year-old who will probably never see him walk.
“I knew I probably would never hold my unborn baby,” Marco said in a statement. “I wanted to do what Christopher Reeve did, help raise money for research and help find treatments for people with spinal cord injuries.”
To date, Team Marco, his fundraising team, has raised $29,699.14 of its $50,000 goal, with 205 donors. The entire Reeve Run & Roll has raised $117,656.53 of its $400,000 goal, with 804 donors.
“The more, the better,” Marco said. With more participants, the fund will get more donations, which leads to more awareness for spinal cord research, which is Marco’s ultimate goal.
Joy Posoli, who has lived across the street from Marco in Bellaire since the early 2000s, has always thought of Marco as an inspiration, even before his injury. After the injury, the Posoli family was devasted.
“Like everyone else, I wanted to do something, I wanted to be there, and when this opportunity arose, I took it, it was my pleasure,” Posoli said. Marco asked Posoli to sit on the advisory council for the Marco Fund, and she immediately did it.
Posoli said that Marco’s outlook on his injury and his “radical acceptance” of it rubs off on everybody who knows him. Marco once told Posoli that his first 50 years was one life and had its purpose, but now he is in the second part of his life, with a new purpose.
“You’re looking at this man who’s had a complete life-altering experience, and he’s so at peace and ready to understand where and how he’s now going to be used,” Posoli said.
“He could have gone to a very dark place, and he said he’s just not going to let that happen,” Posoli said.
To learn more about how to get involved with the Reeve Run & Roll, go to reeverunroll21.funraise.org.