Graphic novel tells story of marathon
If you’ve ever wanted to run a marathon, now’s your chance, and you don’t even have to leave your house. An exciting new behind-the-scenes book called RUN: The Making of a Graphic Novel will be released in May, and the authors have described the process of working on this project as a “marathon.”
As a way to fundraise for the production of the complete graphic novel, authors Bradley Heaven and Daniel O’Connor along with writer Andrew Katz and illustrator Antonio Luzano are inviting fans to buy a signed and numbered copy of the behind-the-scenes book on Kickstarter until June 5. The “making-of” is a sneak peek into the creative partnership and friendship that created the book, in what Katz described as life-changing for them all. It will have exclusive content, sketches, and story boards.
Here’s the story: Heaven and O’Connor met when O’Connor became Heaven’s integration aide at John Rennie High School (Lester B. Pearson School Board). Heaven has dyskinetic cerebral palsy and is non-verbal.
He could participate in running meets and soccer-baseball by using a wheelchair as well as an adaptive walker. Heaven uses eye-tracking technology to communicate.
When he has no access to the device, he uses eye blinks and head movements to signal letters in order to create words in a complex and personalized communication method that he and O’Connor developed together.
They joke that moving his head down is like Heaven hitting the space bar on a keyboard.
In the years that followed, their relation-ship became more than student and aide.
They became best friends. They also came to realize how much it was possible to achieve together.
After Heaven graduated from Dawson College, he and O’Connor founded a non-profit called All Access Life, which helps people with disabilities find the best adaptive equipment.But they wanted to do more. In the fall of 2020, they decided to run the Montreal marathon (42.2 km) the following fall.
They trained for a year, raised money on social media and assembled a support team. The plan was for O’Connor to push Heaven in an adaptive jogging stroller for the first 40 km and then transfer him to his adaptive walker. Heaven would run the final 2.2 km on his own. That distance was over twice what he had ever run in his life, and O’Connor had never run anything close to 42 km before. Running that distance meant they would have to plan Heaven’s food and hydration carefully. They would also have to use their specialized communication method during the race.
When the Covid-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the Montreal marathon, they refused to give up their dream. They signed up for the Lachine half marathon in October and in order to complete a full marathon, they planned to run their own half marathon in the dark to get to the start of the half marathon before start time.
So, what happened? Did Heaven and O’Connor achieve their goal? If you want to find out the answer, you will need to read RUN: The Making of a Graphic Novel, which recounts the “marathon” journey to create and publish the book.
For every book sold, the authors will donate $1 to March of Dimes Canada.
