Renee Bercury was cheering on the runners at the Boston marathon recently, when she spotted a participant who was really struggling.
Renee was waiting to see her son, Gar, when Steven Stallis, a runner who was overwhelmed by the cold and rain, asked for someone to lend him a jacket.
Talking to Boston.com, Renee explained that he was really desperate and was asking anyone in the crowd for help. Seeing him struggling, the 62-year-old admitted that she was overcome by the urge to give him her much-loved jacket.
"He struck me as a person who was drowning and reaching his hand out for somebody to save him," she said. "It was that dramatic. It hit me that hard. It was so dramatic. So I had no qualms. It was just instinct to take the jacket off and hand it to him."
This story is about my mom-this is my mom’s jacket-incredible https://t.co/B0OIUZP5tD
— Gar Bercury (@GarBercury) April 18, 2018
Not long after, Renee's son ran passed with the same look of desperation, and unfortunately he was forced to drop out of the race. And Renee and her family didn't think Steven would finish either. But he did. And he crossed the line wearing the yellow raincoat.
After competing the race, Steven took to social media in a bid to find the owner of the coat. Thankfully, it was picked up by media outlets; Gar spotted the coverage and texted his mum the good news - she would get her jacket back.
“I looked at the message with the story from my son Gar, and I just burst into tears,” she said. “I was just kind of overcome that he managed to finish and what he said — that it made the race for him and he got through the race. I was just really happy.”
And while Renee told Steven to hang on to the jacket, he wanted to return it to its rightful owner. What a lovely ending to an incredible story.
feature image via Shutterstock
