{"id":5361,"date":"2012-09-12T00:21:26","date_gmt":"2012-09-12T00:21:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/192.168.195.175\/index.php\/2012\/09\/12\/man-stops-smoking-2-packs-a-day-to-run-triathlons-with-special-needs-daughter\/"},"modified":"2012-09-12T00:21:26","modified_gmt":"2012-09-12T00:21:26","slug":"man-stops-smoking-2-packs-a-day-to-run-triathlons-with-special-needs-daughter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goodworldnews.org\/index.php\/2012\/09\/12\/man-stops-smoking-2-packs-a-day-to-run-triathlons-with-special-needs-daughter\/","title":{"rendered":"Man stops smoking 2 packs a day to run triathlons with special needs daughter"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Image\n

They call themselves “Team Maddy<\/a>“.\u00a0 The team consists of Rick van Beek and his daughter Maddy who has cerebral palsy<\/a>.\u00a0 Maddy’s cerebral palsy makes her unable to talk, see or walk.\u00a0 In a blog post<\/a>, Rick explains how he used to smoke two packs of cigarettes and chew a tin of tobacco every day.\u00a0 He had been smoking since the age of 12.\u00a0 But he stopped all of his unhealthy habits because of his daughter.\u00a0 She helped him and he helped her.<\/p>\n

Rick’s life turned around when he saw his daughter being pushed along through the Grand Rapids Marathon.\u00a0 “To see her being so happy and enjoying every bump in the road was more than I could handle, my emotions took over.”, Rick said.\u00a0 From that point on, he quick smoking and starting doing triathlons with his daughter.<\/p>\n

Rick told TODAY, \u201cIt was that day that I realized, Madison is not a burden … she is a blessing that has changed our lives and so many other people\u2019s.\u00a0 Before Madison showed me the way to a healthy lifestyle, I guess you can say I was running away from it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rick van Beek pulls Maddy in a kayak during the swimming portions and he rides with her attached to a cart during the biking sections.\u00a0 The father daughter duo has participated in over 75 racing events.\u00a0\u00a0 This is one father daughter team that continues to inspire many!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Peace & Love,<\/p>\n

Jon<\/p>\n

– The Good World News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They call themselves “Team Maddy“.\u00a0 The team consists of Rick van Beek and his daughter Maddy who has cerebral palsy.\u00a0 Maddy’s cerebral palsy makes her unable to talk, see or walk.\u00a0 In a blog post, Rick explains how he used to smoke two packs of cigarettes and chew a tinContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":5360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2862],"tags":[2973,3145],"class_list":["entry","author-gwn_info","post-5361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-family","tag-triathlon"],"yoast_head":"\nMan stops smoking 2 packs a day to run triathlons with special needs daughter - Good World News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.goodworldnews.org\/index.php\/2012\/09\/12\/man-stops-smoking-2-packs-a-day-to-run-triathlons-with-special-needs-daughter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Man stops smoking 2 packs a day to run triathlons with special needs daughter - 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