Man Completes 5K with Sons’ Help 2 Years After Stage 4 Cancer Diagnosis: ‘We Can Still Get Him Across the Finish Line’

Dean Mallie was able to cross the finish line with the assistance of a walker after he sons got him there

NEED TO KNOW

• Dean Mallie, diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, completed the Lisbon Sauerkraut Days 5K with help from his sons
• Mallie crossed the finish line on foot using a walker as the community cheered for his inspiring effort
• He advocates for testing for radon in homes, linking the gas to his cancer and helping others mitigate potential risks

A dad with stage 4 lung cancer was able to make it across the finish line of a beloved 5K race with a little help from his sons, two years after receiving his diagnosis.

“I can’t begin to think how many times I either trained on it or ran it. It’s just home,” Dean Mallie told KCRG about the Lisbon Sauerkraut Days 5K, in Lisbon, Iowa. Two years ago, the Lisbon native was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.

Before his diagnosis, he ran the 5K several times and also ran marathons and other races with his sons.

“He’s at this point [where he’s] not necessarily able to run it in the way that he used to,” his son Dustin Mallie told the outlet. “But we can still participate. We can still get him across the finish line.”

And that’s what they did: His sons pushed their father for the race, coming in at just under 50 minutes. But as they approached the finish line, Dean was able to cross on his own two feet, leaning on his walker as the community cheered.

Since his diagnosis, Dean has been active in raising awareness about testing homes for radon, which he said is responsible for his cancer. It’s a colorless, odorless gas caused by the decay of radioactive elements found naturally in soil and rocks.

Radon can be found in higher levels in basements or near underground wells, where it breaks down and attaches itself to elements like dust — which is then inhaled, per the American Cancer Society, which says it’s the leading cause of lung cancer in people who do not smoke.

Since he launched his advocacy, Mallie said, “We’ve gotten a lot of people tested and then they have an opportunity, if it’s needed, to get it mitigated or determine what they want to do.”

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As he said, raising awareness for the presence of radon is much like running a race. “We’ve called this a marathon,” he told the outlet, “and that’s what it’s been.”