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March 16, 2026

Project Outrun Helps Kids Beat Cancer: Andy Shepard - 92

Most nonprofits spend decades trying to make a real impact. Andy Shepperd found success almost immediately in his local community.

Through Project OutRun, he’s changing pediatric cancer treatment by using shoes to inspire hope, build community, and raise awareness.

The results are impressive.

In this episode, you’ll learn how designing custom sneakers for a young girl with cancer led to a movement that has supported over 10,000 families across the United States.

Andy shares the story of the “Kylie Rose” shoes, the emotional moments that drove this mission, and how a small idea became a significant intervention for children with cancer.

We cover:

How shoes serve as a tool for mindset and movement, helping kids in their recovery
The importance of branding, community, and connection in building a successful nonprofit
How storytelling and branding raise awareness and support
Innovative programs like sibling funds and finish line celebrations that support family resilience
Ways to turn small acts of kindness into impactful actions that promote healing and community involvement

If you’re interested in making meaningful change and driven by purpose, this episode offers valuable insights into building a movement from genuine action. Andy’s story shows how one person’s dedication can positively affect many lives.

This episode is ideal for nonprofit leaders, community builders, athletes, and anyone looking to make a difference. Andy shares tips on building connections, enhancing storytelling, and turning passion into purpose. Every step matters when supporting those in need.

Follow Project OutRun on Instagram at @ProjectOutRun or visit projectoutrun.org for upcoming events and ways to get involved.

Join the Fast Family, where shoes symbolize hope and resilience.

Join the movement!

https://podcasthon.org/

This year, I'm proud to take part in Podcasthon, the world’s largest charity podcast event!

I’ll be dedicating this episode of my podcast to support Project Outrun charity and a cause that truly matters to me.

@podcasthon_en

Want help applying this to your own health, weight, energy, or lab numbers?

Coach Brian Parana offers Health Hot Seat coaching segments for men who want a clear next step with nutrition, fitness, weight loss, blood pressure, cholesterol, A1C, or daily consistency.

Learn more about The Call To Rise, a 100-day coaching program for driven men over 40 who want to lose weight, improve their health, and rebuild confidence:

www.thecalltorise.com

To connect with Coach Brian:
brian@brianparana.com

Disclaimer: This podcast is for education and coaching support only. It is not medical advice. Always work with your physician before changing medication, treatment, or medical care.

I'm not sick, but my shoes are. That's the phrase behind this episode. That's what actually I started seeing because my buddy Andy here that we're going to be talking with, I started seeing these these shirts, this like fun colorful uh neon style apparel start showing up. Project Outrun.
What is that? I didn't even know what it was. And all of a sudden, here we are talking about it. of Andy is a middle school parent with three kids. I'm a middle school parent with four kids. And guess what? We're busy. We run the show in our companies. We're juggling a lot of things. And I'm actually also participating what they call a podcastathon.
And it's a global effort where podcasters feature nonprofits to help more people learn about what they do. And I thought of no better person or organization to do than Andy and Project.Run. This is episode 80 or so this is episode 92 of driven for health and welcome Andy Shepard of Project Outrun to the show. >> No, happy to be here.
I don't think there's a more relevant space and a a podcast AON for a running based organization to take part in. I'm hoping there's gonna be a medal of some sort at the end potentially because yes, >> I do most things I I like an incentive. No, I'm happy to be here. Excited to share the story. I love that you started seeing the shirts around town and our kids happen to go to school together and we made the connection and you know, I've been on many runs ourselves, too.
But I'm happy to join you and communicate the power of the project and what we're building in our community. >> Yes. Yes. And that's what even got this this fostering the relationship. The whole reason why I got driven for health is focusing on men in their 40s because we've got a lot. We're very busy both you and I. Right.
We >> I'm in my Wait, I'm in the 40. I'm in my No, I am in my 40s. That's so funny. >> I hope so. Right. >> For some reason, but I am in my 40s. No, 45. 45. >> Yeah. Still doing >> this guy is young at heart, man. You would take him for like a 23 year old just living. The energy that he carries, it's amazing.
And so what you you've got three kids, one's young, and so we're we're carving out time in our schedules to go run. We both really enjoy running. And if you've listened to any of these episodes, I've talked about my three my four amigos. So Andy's one of them, and here he is. So we run together and and talk about life and work and different important things.
And it's an easy way to collaborate, to share, to inspire, to vent, to to be able to clear the air so that we can show up ready, willing, and able to handle all the things that are happening in our world. So, let's jump into Project Outrun. What is it? What's Tell me about it. Tell everyone here. I mean, I know what it is, but tell everyone listening in.
>> Absolutely. Such an open-ended question that could go on forever, but let me tell the origin story of Project AR. So, as you previously said, I'm a huge runner. I'm a huge sneaker head. And almost nine years ago now, I ran a little girl's 5K in the community whose name is Kylie Rose Jacobs.
And she had a 5K. And when I went to that 5K, when you have children, all children kind of become your children. You empathize, you understand, and you kind of want to just take them all in. And I looked at Kylie like she was my own. And I thought, what would I do if it were my son battling pediatric cancer? Well, being a runner and a huge sneaker head, I would make them shoes to make them feel fast, powerful, and strong because I don't care if you're like six or 60, you get new shoes, you just feel a little faster. It's science.
>> Yes, it is. It is very much science. I love >> Yeah. I mean, you lace up, you have a different perspective. And we really do believe that mindset and movement are medicine. It's something that we believe in our house. And I thought >> if my son were fighting pediatric cancer, I would make them choose to make them feel fast, powerful, and strong.
and use that metaphor of the run and the recovery road to help empower them along. So, Kylie was having a very serious surgery in Cincinnati. Every time I say that phrase, it's such an alliteration. Like, serious surgery in Cincinnati. >> Yeah. Right. >> But I knew that that was the moment where I should hop on that Nike by you builder and design her some custom kicks.
So, I went on that builder and I built her these. These are the Kylie Rose ones. >> Yes. >> They match her 5K colors and logo. She lets me borrow them to show people like you guys on this podcast. I put Kro's 5K on the tongue and I had zero idea how to tell a family that I barely knew that I designed their daughter's shoes because it's kind of an odd thing to do.
>> Yeah. >> I remember sitting outside in the parking lot that is my office now trying to formulate an idea of how do I present this gift to this family so that that it's relevant and it makes sense. And so the first thing that came to my mind was to text them that we were huge fans of Kylie and when she outruns cancer she has to have the right shoes.
Now, yes, >> her dad Eric's response to me was about 15 seconds later, but it felt like 15 years because when you put yourself out there and you're vulnerable in a place, in a space like this, it's terrifying, right? Vulnerability. It's like when you have an idea and you birth it to the world, it's like you're a baby.
And I was like, they're going to love the shoes. They're going to hate the shoes. They love me. They >> just like reeling through. >> I was like, what am I doing? Right? So, fortunately for me, Eric, who is now one of my very best friends in the world, sent a text back saying how moved they were, how they were balling their eyes out, and how this was really going to lift Kylie's spirits when she was feeling low.
And in our lives, we've all had those moments where something happened, but we we're not sure what it was, but we we know it was something. And sometimes I need some help unpacking those moments. So, I always go to my wife who's a third grade school teacher in Wadssworth. So, I sent her a text message and I said, "Steph, I don't know how, but I want to take our extra Christmas cash up to Akran Children's Hospital.
I want to start this thing called Project Outrun where we let kids design their shoes, their colors, their messages, whatever empowers them down their recovery road. And my wife, true fashion, just said, "Great." And I'm like, "No followup." She's like, "Nope." Because she's just so used in our home when we have ideas, we don't let them be ideas. We manifest those into realities.
Because the line between what is, what could be, and what is is so small, but it just takes that one step. And that's just what we believe and what we foster. And so my wife wasn't even like surprised by the idea that I was like let's go do this thing just full support. So I thought the very next day we were going to go up to the children's hospital like an afterchool special like Steph and Andy go give kids shoes holidays.
>> Yeah. >> Fortunately for me and all for everybody that pediatric hospitals are not that easy to get into. So it took once again four months >> four months of vetting before we had our first night on floor. And in that four months, I was able to think through >> the content. It slowed you down a little bit to start the process.
>> What a great And just so you know, listening in, obviously you can tell he's a very excitable guy. A lot crazy amounts of he walks in and all the kids at Miller South, they all have secret handshakes. They're all like all sorts of craziness going on. Everyone's energy goes up to 10, Spinal Tap 11.
And so, so Andy's fun to be around and he just carries Project Outrun so well to to to help lift and lead these kids to battle through that and to get to that finish line of remission. So, keep going. And that's really the goal. So, when we walk into the room that night, I wanted to build the context.
So, we built Road to Recovery Essentials. So, every single one of our kiddos that's a part of our program gets a Project Outrun swag bag. It says Project Outrun athlete. It says, "I'm not sick, but my shoes are on the back, which I trademarked. Yeah, you should. >> They all get really cool shirts um that say faster every day.
Yeah, you got yours. You're >> Yeah, buddy. Here it is. I got mine on today. >> Cool socks that say fast family. They get a finish line to create a goal because we tell them all that their shoes are free, but they cost a goal. We don't care if it was ate your broccoli, walked your dog, and with the treatment cancer free.
and they all get their finishers medal to celebrate whatever accomplishment or whatever goal that they tie to their shoes and their road to recovery. So, we go up the hospital that day, we do 17 pairs for 17 kids. >> The hospital loves it. The kids love it. They're like, "You've got to do more of this." I was like, "We can't.
We're broke." >> Yeah. Right. Right. We used all our money, our extra. I mean, we were we were digging in the couch for pennies, right? >> We have any cash around the house. But, you know, fortunately for me, the hospital was like, "Well, you could throw a fundraiser." had been to enough fundraisers.
I'm like, I could probably figure one out. But we didn't tell Brian like we didn't tell anybody that we were doing this. There were less than a handful of people that knew we were going up to the hospital. I thought this was just going to be something that we did like >> this is going to be fun. We got some extra money.
Let's go do a thing, >> right? It's like go pick a kid off the the the the Christmas tree and drop some presents off type thing, right? >> But when I saw what it was doing, I realized that it was more. And so that's when I said great, let's throw a fundraiser. We threw a fundraiser at my local gym. We raised like 15,000 bucks in an afternoon.
Awesome silly carnival games, which to me, I mean, that felt like >> all the money in the world. >> Oh yeah. Holy moly. >> How many shoes can I get here? >> And I had a really great Nike contact and I knew that if I got them something conceptual and not just like like with it with the ass that was actually built that I could get a lot further with them.
So, I sent a content video out to them after we done like 70 pairs off like extending an opportunity to partner and be a part of this project. And I'm so happy and proud to say that in nine year on April 26, it's nine years we've worked with over 10,000 families all across the country. Seen thousands of kids do cancer free science. What started with one hospital system is now over 400.
all 50 states pediat money towards pediatric cancer research, awareness, advocacy. We're pushing the envelope of what's possible and we're very solutionbased. What I say is every time we do a pair of shoes for a kiddo, not only is an inspirational empowerment piece, but what we also hope and we've seen firsthand is it's an awareness driver and it allows us a place at the table to talk to the people that are in charge of the solutions and get in that door, which has been amazing.
So, we are just absolutely so proud of the program. The best part is that that little girl that was a stranger to me is now like a daughter to me and she is nine years cancer free doing so well. Um that's awesome. >> So that is Project Outrun. We've got tons of pieces and parts that we've added to our programming that I'll talk about later, but at its core we are a pediatric cancer empowerment and support organization that utilizes new shoe smiles, metal moments, and finish line feelings to help see kids through cancer-free finish lines.
>> That's awesome and inspiring. And I love hearing it. I love being around this guy. One thing that I love about you and your energy is some of the brand specific language that the concepts that you have created such as the I'm not sick but my shoes are. What do some of those mean to you? uh maybe even some of the let's jump into some of those things of like the thought process of creating them or why it's important that you have those and and what does it mean when like the kids or the families get into this the the fast family and all that.
>> So I'm I have a branding background. So I always see things as like how can we three like 360 degree wrap an idea in a concept and so that that becomes ecosystem. So yeah, initially when when as soon as I made Kylie's shoes, I was like, "Oh, I know it's going to be called Project Outrun.
" And I know it's going to be omnic, but my shoes are when I had those two pieces, I was like, "Oh my goodness, like this this is start the ecosystem is has been has is growing, right?" And so then I thought through, okay, we've got these parts and pieces. So that's our rotary recovery essentials pack.
And what do you need? If it's a metaphorical run, what do you need? Well, you need your, you know, your race shirt. You need a metal, you need and the personal finish lines I used to make on a Cricut because you couldn't buy I I had these custom >> but I was like man it's I remember like googling like custom finish lines and I felt like it'd be so fun in my house to just have like one that like at the end of every day I come home and my wife's like like ah I made it through another day kind of energy.
Um, but I think it's so important that when you're trying to build something like this that's, you know, uh, metaphorical to create the metaphorical language, but reinforce it with the physical deliverables so that it becomes, like we said, an ecosystem of mindset and movement are medicine. It gives them those parts and pieces to write their own shoe story and to run their own race.
Um it's just so imperative that you build that out because it is sort of meta. It is sort of metaphorical. You have to, but when you start to bring in the physical parts and pieces of it, then families can really buy in and dig into the the story, the community, and like you said, the fast family, that's what we call it. Because when I walk in a room at our children's hospitals, especially in Northeast Ohio, where I'm on site, physical presence, you know, every single every single month, >> and I meet families, >> I go from zero to fast so quickly.
>> Oh, yeah. because we bring in these universal like love language pieces that instantly connect us and the nice thing too with cancer families is everybody's asking them what can I do well project comes in and says here's what we do right here's how we help and from this I promise you I will connect you to every resource asset community anything but I'm not even going to ask you what do you need I'm going to provide you our service and from that the connectivity that we make is incredible so then We can help them on other sides and other
parts and pieces of the fight. >> Yeah, that's awesome. One moment. I got to grab something here. Give me five seconds. >> Go ahead. Take your time. >> All right. All right. So, so we hang out with this guy. Got swag bag going on here. What are these guys? >> Those are off to the races laces. That's the way that we onboard families.
So, they that's the application portal. we get in the shoelace. >> Yeah. Look at that. So, I'll just share showcase those on my my shoes. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> So, I love it. And then I have a right here. One more. Hold on. Hold on. >> Yeah. If you hang around me, you're gonna get swag. >> All right.
I should have thought through this, but I didn't. What are these guys here? Right. >> So, that those are a pair of shoes from my guy Chase. Those are his shoes. And he picked every color of the Paw Patrol. He wanted every single Paw Patrol character reflected in his shoes. and he got it. And the nice thing about the Nike Dunk is that you can do the shoes don't have to match.
So if you notice the left shoe doesn't match the right shoe. So he's able to tell so much. The thing I love about the shoe piece is one, it's a controllable. So kids in this in this, you know, world where so many things are out of control. This is something that grounds them and they can control >> literally because they put it on their feet and it's on the ground.
>> Yeah, that's it. the idea of like you know when I started it was super metaphorical but then I came to realize that these treatments chemotherapies provide have awful side effects of neuropathy and foot drop and achilles tightness. My leukemia kiddos a lot of times lose the ability to walk >> and so they need performance footwear.
They need good footwear and you know we offer 40 uh five different silhouettes and styles of shoe that they can customize. So there's really something for every kiddo and they're really able to bring their personality out in the shoe. >> Right. How much of a placebo effect? I mean, obviously they're just shoes, right? So, so we have a placebo effect.
I Andy gives this shoe this figurative fabric and rubber. >> The placebo effect alone has to be astronomical on the kid's uh likeliness to survive >> cancer. Let's talk about that for a second. >> Yeah. So anybody that you talk to in modern medicine is going to tell you that movement helps fight cancer. It's just scientifically backed right mind that same doctor that deals in the world of know statistics is also going to tell you that mindset is imperative.
So when you talk about something that accomplishes both goals, right? It improves mindset and it improves movement. those like those are two variables that are so imperative to have a great outcome in any cancer diagnosis be it pediatric or young adult or adult or like it's just those are two pieces that we're able through our programming able to kind of address and even the community piece right that I always like to talk about is that these kids are connected to a bigger community when they go into hospital they're comparing shoes when
they they're instantly able to have a connection >> a lot of times times when I go into hospital, Brian, I will be greeted by child life and social work and they say, "We're so happy you're here today because we've got a kiddo that's impossible to crack. We can't get through to him. We want to make sure that he knows that we're on his team.
" A lot of times it's like those 10, 12, 14 year old boys who like, you know, that's those are my guys. >> Ah, yeah, those are. So, you know, they send me in and I walk them through the program and I do this thing called fast facts and I I do it to any kiddo or young adult that I meet where I ask them it's an acronym, favorite food, animal, color, team song.
And from those five questions in conjunction with their sneaker design, all of a sudden you have a very clear like representation of who this kiddo is. And then when childlife comes back in, they come back in with a soft entry of like, hey, >> what just happened in here? We left and came back like this. This is a different kid.
>> Yeah. I heard you love AJR. My favorite song is this. You love the color red. Like because what you're looking for >> in is is connect is connection. >> Yep. >> And when you don't have connection, it's harder to treat a patient and it's harder for a patient receive treatment. >> That's they they feel isolated, right? With a label of cancer, you feel isolated. You feel alone.
you are not like others especially in your age right pediatric cancer isn't the most popular thing I mean it's not rare but it's not just in in terms of the general population right obviously everyone majority of people are over 18 so the the likeliness of of that is lower but yeah you you feel like one of few at most >> yeah it's less rare it's like one in 275 so it's less rare than you that it should be >> yeah yeah than it should getting it keeps getting higher which obviously unfortunately knows for and you know all those stats I'm sure
>> but again but you don't again the what one thing that I that I'm proudest of and something that I think we can all like adopt this mindset is >> when like sometimes we're just so compartmentalized of like we only causes are only our causes when there are causes like did they hit us directly you know pediatric cancer didn't hit me directly but that's not to say that it can't still, but it hasn't.
>> Sure. >> But >> any kiddo's fight is my fight as your fight is our fight. And the reason that I think we've been successful is in our storytelling and our presentation of this to say like there are these kids out there that need our help, right? That need a voice and my program does XYZ and through everyone's belief in that program, we've been able to grow it like crazy.
And again, that's provided us a place and a space at the pharmaceutical table talking to people conducting trials on some of the worst forms of pediatric cancer where we're able to support those kids that are in trials that are that are fighting and helping revolutionize science. Like it's incredible. But it's all because people are able to connect to this thing that maybe before they weren't able to.
So when you talk about the connection and isolation, this shows those kids like they're not alone. like you have a whole when I talk fast family I don't talk just about the kiddos that we're serving I talk about the kiddos that we serve their families our families that support the corporations and the business entities that help fund that is our everybody that gives time talent treasure anything that they give to our organization that's our fast family and that's the connectivity that you talked about so that those kids don't feel
isolated >> yep I'm part of it I got Levi went and ran at one of your events in the summertime time and money. >> June 20th, >> uh, Faster Everyday 5K, Ka Falls, Ohio. If anybody's around, >> come see us. >> And and you do a number of different So, let's just pause for the the fundraising.
So you had the sneaker ball, you've got the the faster 5K, you've got a lot of the golf outing, you have again they're branded and they they create identity and create connection and create uh that the opportunity to get to learn and understand what pediatric cancer is and how that anyone can help play a part in this. So let's talk about some of the the events that you put up.
Yeah, the events are so important and you know it's our second year. I grew this organization as a volunteer for seven years. Last year my board came to me and they were like, "It's getting way too big. You either have to come on or we have to scale back." And and you know me, right? I'm like, "We're not scaling back." So, um I was so proud.
Last year we threw our first ever we needed an elevated event. So, we threw a sneaker ball and we did it in like a month and it was it was successful. But this past year, I had a year to plan. So, I was like, "Oh, we're rolling it out." So, it's a really great evening. Um, it's like an upscale evening.
It's at house 330 in Akran and you know, we sold it out and we raised a good amount of money. But the the thing that the biggest takeaway for me is that everybody left there feeling extremely connected to our program because >> that's what we try to do. Like if you come to an outrun event, >> you're not going to leave not knowing what we do.
Like you're not only you going to know what we do, you're going to be a spokesman for us and you're going to be repping the gear and you're going to be talking the language. >> That's what I'm doing. Every time we run, I'm repping the gear, right? Levi repped the gear just the other day and it's in a picture from our bike ride that we took on Monday and it's on my Instagram.
>> I love But I love I love that because again with our branding as well, like we're not cancer ribbon heavy. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but what we want is for you to look at our branding to read I'm not sick but my shoes are to read faster every day to read fast family and then ask the question what's that and then you get an opportunity to actually spend some time rather than just a cancer riven like that's a cancer organization we like to leave that we want to be conversational with all of our brand same thing with
our events whatever I do in an event that needs to be a conversation starter like the conversation didn't end when you came to my event or you made a donation or no no you took that with you and the next time you talk to a friend of a friend of a friend that maybe has a kiddo that's in the fight, not only you sending them to us, but you trust us to take care of that kiddo and to love and nurture that family.
>> Yeah, that's and let's let's segue that right into family impact. >> How is this affecting the whole family, right? Because we have the kid who's the centerpiece of course, but then the people around them that are the nuclear support of that person. So, let's let's talk about the family impact that you've had and want to to have in this.
>> Yeah. So, what's what's wonderful about Northeast Ohio is, you know, we run programming in all 50 states. >> Yeah. Real quick, too, he is hometown strong, proud of Akran and does so many things in this area to support the the growth. Even our kids, Miller South, he raised a fundraiser and had his son and their band Shep and Bucks.
>> Shout out Shep and the Bucks to >> turn up the mic to raise funds and awareness to get Miller South a new mic system so that today opening night for Matilda and is they're able to use it and have a best performance and not have to worry about mics fading in and out. so we can really share and showcase the talent of these kids that they do at Motor South and it's it's brilliant.
So, I just wanted to call you out on that like you you light it up your you're local your hometown and and just love it. So, all right. Oh, you're right. But we love I love Akan. Like I'm I'm so proud that this has grown from Akan and that we have something that you know families from all over the country come to to for our support and our programming.
But the cool thing about this area is that with Akran Children's, University Hospital, Rainbow Babies, and Cleveland Clinic Pediatrics is that I've grown those for eight years. So, they're like family. So, when I, you know, when I come on site, um it's like it's like a family reunion and we're able to offer different level of programming because so much of our funding comes from this area where we have a sibling fund because we believe that families fight together and we know for a fact that pushing play on that sibling fund
creates such an incredible dynamic within the family structure. A lot of times families and moms and dads worry more about the kiddo that's not in treatment than the kiddo that is in treatment because the kiddo in treatment is getting all of the attention. So we send those kiddos those kiddos design their own shoes.
They get their own swag. So anytime a kiddo locally, which is like the greatest, but sometimes I will walk into rooms >> and I'll basically be like, "Okay, Johnny, amazing. I'm so excited for you to design your shoes. By the way, do you have any siblings?" And he's like, "Yes." I'm like, "How many?" And he's like, "Eight.
" And I'm like, well, they're all getting shoes and I got to get back to fundraising because like we but those are the families that get the most that Yes. probably haven't had new shoes in >> gosh. Unfortunately, you're right. >> And so the and that is something that I'm working on. We have a big launch coming up with a hospital system out west that we have a family foundation that is funding the entirety of the programming that we do at Project Hour, including the sibling fund.
So it will be an amazing opportunity to showcase what it takes for us to run project primary programming as well as sibling fund as well as finish line festivals as well as all of the things that we do to support pediatric cancer families in the fight. >> And I I was at the run event and this guy throws parties.
I mean, literally, there's like blowups and tents and all sorts of different local organizations that come out and they're feeding you and there's some some adult beverages that are really tasty and his son's playing on the stage to support. So, it's a whole it's truly a a family event and you can see the energy and the excitement and and the passion that Andy has for Project Run and what it all stands for.
And certainly you could you can it it oozes out of him and that's what I love about Andy. It's just he's >> when you believe when you believe in something to your core everybody's always like oh you sell the program so well. I'm like I'm not selling you anything like I'm telling you what this is my heart like and this is my per this is what this is my calling my purpose my this is why I wake up in the morning to continue to fight for these kids and these families.
So it's like yeah I love I was like this lights you up. I'm like I because I've seen what it does and so it's my obligation to come back and to have conversations like this that can enable all sorts of things that can provide for my family. So >> right >> it's not a cadence it's me speaking from my heart. >> Oh totally totally totally.
You've talked about Kylie you've talked about some of the siblings and and such but is there another not they're all special to you right? They're all every single kid you've ever served is special to you. But is there a transformative story of someone who really had their back against the wall and through just the process of getting this giving them support and giving them more to lip bore in a sense and push and and really strive to to get to remission.
Do you have a story that stands out? I >> have nothing but stories like that. I know you do. I was like, how do we get big one? >> It's okay because I have like it's easy for me to be like I'm like which do I want it? But I think one that was sort of eye opening in terms of like the small things that we do meaning so much.
So um Paisley Palmer is a leukemia survivor. She is five going on six I believe. She um when we joined her team she was nine months old. And I called mom and Jess and I became fast friends and she told me that her daughter loves shoes. She Paisley was nine months old, loves shoes and loves to run.
I was like amazing. So we actually designed we did two two pairs of shoes for her because she would wear one and hold the other. So there's like video of her running through the halls of Natty Children's um wearing shoes and holding the other two, right? So this kid >> had a really hard journey and but on the other side of it is the sweetest, kindest, most caring, loving um at Thanksgiving for her school, she had to make a thing that she was thankful for and she picked Project Outrun and she said that she wants to run the project
around 5K every year. Um we celebrated her birthday at the 5K. The thing that really stood out to me was that I we took pizza to her house one night. She was probably four going on five at this point. Cancerree, doing great. And um Pais was like, "Andy, can you want to see my room?" I was like, "Sure, Paige, show me your room because she loves turtles and mushrooms and all these like r all these random things that I know about her from her shoes and from her fast facts and just from spending time with her." But she has all these like
mushroom stuffed animals and turtle stuffed animals. And so we went in her room and she was like next to her bed was her like keep special box, her keepsake box, right? And she's like, "That's where I keep all my special things." And I was like, "Oh, awesome." She's like, "Open it." And I was like, "Okay.
" So I open this four-year-old special box. And in her box, there's like five Project Outrun things, like her medal, um, like her finish line. Uh, she had a rock. I gave her a rock at Curefest in DC. She came to Curefest and my one of my kiddos got rocks at the Smithsonian. I I know Paisley loves the color purple and it was a really pretty purple rock and my kiddo gave Paisley the rock and she kept it and she took it home and she put it in her box.
>> Wow. >> And so there are all these keepsakes of our program that to me are small things like in the greatest scheme of what we gift children, right? >> Okay. these are the small things and these are the things that are precious to her that she and so that I was like man to have ever to even be able to give a kiddo something that they're like this goes in my special my special spot a keepsake spot because it has meaning and it's powerful to me because kids at that age like all they know is honesty, right? like all they know is like like
there you get you you you get what you get with kids like that and to be like >> what we're putting out there is being seen by these kids exactly how I want them to see it that these are gifts of love of support of hope and there are things and so that I think and Paisley Palmer still is just an absolute force of nature and I will be with her forever I will be at her wedding or graduate like and I have so many relationships with these these kids that are now young adults I mean I've been doing this nine years that I met when they were nine or
18. I feel like a teacher sometimes where I'm like, >> you know what I mean? It's which is so so incredibly cool. >> Yeah. Yeah. It's your your brand ambassadors that you're growing and and helping to create transformation in their world, but then also in other children's worlds too to for the future to come.
>> Awesome. >> That's awesome. >> Wow. Lots of energy. Andy, how do we find Project Outrun? How do we jump on the mission? get into the fast family, uh, all of those things. Follow us on Instagram. Projectoutrun.org is our website. We've got tons of opportunities that for events. We have our 5K June 20th in Kaoga Falls, Ohio.
It's not a 5K. It's a festival. We have every single thing you could ever want. It's a family fun day. We invite all of our out athletes and their kiddos to come and run and enjoy the festival for free. So, it's a great gather. And yeah, just keep an eye out for us. We got a lot of cool things happening in 2026. Exactly.
And I I'm running with them so I get to see uh and hear some of the the things in the background and very very exciting. I thank you so much for jumping on sharing the story of Project Outrun. you can understand at this point if you're still listening in why I chose Andy to come on and be part of my podcastathon outreach to a nonprofit and to showcase what he has share his story and the impact that he has that not only in just my life with just being around him and having lots of energy and all but what he can do for our communities for those
little kiddos that are really challenged and struggling with isolation, loneliness, and a what feels like a death sentence when you hear that that C-word and and you bring hope, you bring opportunity, awareness, uh money, the just so much that you have been able to be influential in the last nine years and imagine the momentum that you're carrying into the next nine.
Just kidding. I look at our or like it's two years old because I was like, you know what? I I created it and I kind of like put on autopilot and it grew like crazy and then I got to really come back and foster it. So, this year is a giant year because I was able to curate tons of opportunities for 26.
So, I look forward to being on the podcast in 27 and talking about all kinds of new stuff. >> Yeah. Yeah, we can definitely have you back. >> Well, thank you so much for having coming on and sharing your story. So appreciate it. And I I'll catch you at Matilda tonight. >> Let's do it. Until South. Bye, guys. >> Thank you, Brian.
>> Uh, hold on one. They got to I got to I got to hop.