Injured mid-race, Dan Johnson used a walker to finish

By Donna McMillan

WISE beyond his eight years, the late Luke Johnson told his dad you don’t have to be tough; you just have to be strong to the end.

On what would have been Luke’s ninth birthday, Monday, April 21, Dan Johnson was in Boston to run the iconic marathon in honour of Luke (April 21, 2016–July 7, 2024). His running shirt told a story, “Live Like Luke” and “Be Strong and Keep Going,” and shared his birth date and passing.

A seasoned triathlete, Dan’s race turned into a painful endurance challenge when he stepped on a spectator’s water bottle, severely twisting his ankle, with 25 kilometres yet to go.

Dan told the Maple Leaf he was a runner through elementary and high school and ran varsity cross country at Wilfred Laurier University. He ran two Ironman Triathlons in 2019 at Mount Tremblant and Louisville, Kentucky. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he just ran.

Luke was never one to sit still. He played hockey, baseball, golf, and soccer, competed in trail races, completed science projects and so much more.

Dan said friends encouraged him to train for the Boston Marathon. He said he did it “for my sanity and health. A strong mind and physical body are important.”

Luke was sick during Dan’s training for the race but encouraged his father to keep going. “Luke was into it. He motivated me and I motivated him,” he said.

Dan qualified for the famous race at the November 2023 Road to Hope Marathon in Hamilton, he said. Luke wanted to attend the Boston Marathon. However, his cancer dramatically accelerated, Dan shared.

The Boston Marathon began on April 19, 1897. It is 26.2 miles or 42.2 km long, starting in Hopkinton, MA, and ending on Boylston Street in Boston. Dan said it’s like a parade route with houses and spectators lined up and sitting in chairs along the early section of the route.

He was committed to enjoying the race and doing his personal best. He was running with runners from the Niagara region. Whenever he saw kids who looked Luke’s age, he high-fived them. He said that at the 17-km mark, the road narrows and runners are 10 abreast. Fatefully, he stepped on a spectator’s water bottle that should not have been out on the route. He went down with an inversion sprain.

“My ankle blew up. I knew my ankle was done. I couldn’t put pressure on my foot,” he said. In five seconds, he went from running as fast as he could for Luke, trying for his best time, to feeling angry that the water bottle was left there and scrambling to think about what to do next.

“Emotionally, I was so broken in the moment… a very disappointing thing to happen.”

On the spot, Dan asked paramedics to wrap his ankle so strongly that it couldn’t bend. He inquired at nearby houses if they had a cane or crutch he could use. At the third house, a woman offered him her husband’s walker. It had wheels at the front and peg legs at the back.

He had to trust in God in all of it, he said. Friends pointed out that if he hadn’t stumbled, Luke couldn’t have kept up with him.

Dan said he went from looking like a pro runner to being in extreme pain and doing the “Terry Fox hop.” He started hobbling with the walker at noon. He knew the cutoff for finishing was 5:30 p.m. With 25 km to go, he had to cover five each hour. His normal run would be 14 km an hour. He decided it was doable.

Along the way, spectators were cheering him on and shouting, “Happy birthday Luke!” People followed his speed at each five-km marker and cheered when he crossed the finish line at 5:15 p.m. with just 15 minutes to spare.

“I went to honour Luke and did. It was his marathon. It was meant to be,” Dan said.

He covered his first kilometre after the fall in 11 and a half minutes, so he knew he could finish in spite of the pain. One and a half hours after the fall, his wife Jill found him on the course.

“I was still in shock,” he said.

Although spectators are not allowed on the course, as a rule, Jill walked the last 21 km with Dan. The finish was anticlimactic for them, he said. He stopped to get X-rays. As an athlete, and after five months of training during a cold winter, he said he felt disappointed. His crossing of the finish line wasn’t what was expected.

“I didn’t get to test myself,” he said.

Upon reflection, he said, “I was just a footnote. During the entire day, Luke was noticed so it was a perfect day.”

He mentioned that he had to ditch the walker with five km to go because he ground the back pegs down to the metal. “I took a moment and said, ‘Thank you walker.’”

Dan plans to go back next year with the entire family, which also includes Luke’s siblings Hosanna and Pearce, to watch the race with the woman who donated the walker and her entire neighborhood, who took a special interest in his race and cause. Every five km, they couldn’t believe he was still in the race.

“I went from disappointment in it to embracing and recognizing the coolness of it,” he said.

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Originally published May 7, 2025