Second Annual ‘Run for Dom’ Benefits ALS Institute
NEWINGTON - Dominic Mazzaccoli, otherwise known as â€"Dom,” cannot run anymore.

       He isn’t even able to talk anymore, so the motivational words of wisdom that characterized the Newington resident have become memories.

       But memories can be powerful things, and for Dom’s son, Matt, they’re so powerful that his father, who is bed-ridden with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), does not even need to speak anymore to push him forward.

       At the second annual Run for Dom, a 5K benefit race held at the Mortensen Community Center to benefit the Massachusetts-based ALS Therapy Institute, a lot of people can relate to that feeling.

       â€"I was just talking to a guy when I was running, and he was like, ‘I just use your dad’s energy when I run,’” Matt said after the race. â€"It boosted my confidence, thinking about my dad watching the race. Getting to the next mile, being mentally strong.”

       Dom is a lot of things--a former Newington mayor, a state representative, and a Marine captain--but being mentally strong has helped shape all of it. Matt remembers the days prior to his father’s 2011 ALS diagnosis, when a lunch break at the office wasn’t really much of a break at all.

       â€"He would be like, ‘I didn’t have lunch today; I ran a five-, six-mile run’,” Matt said. â€"I would be like, ‘How did you not eat something?’”

       Dom would run around six miles every day, according to Matt.

       â€"When he ran, he would just get up and go,” he said. â€"I think he built that up in the Marines.”

       As Dom lost control over his muscle movement and, eventually, his mobility, as is the cycle of the degenerative ailment otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, both he and his family members had to lean more on his seemingly insurmountable mental strength, which has been contagious, as evidenced by the runners of all ages sweating it out at 9 a.m. on a Saturday morning to cross the finish line.

       There was Omar Abdulrahman, a Hartford resident who has been training every day since 2011 in an effort to cut his mile time to around four minutes.

       â€"Every day I run,” Abdulrahman said. â€"I vary the distances.

       Saturday he averaged 4:15, reaching his goal.

       Dom would be proud. Even with his health deteriorating, he still thinks big. Recently Dom had a meeting with some of his doctors, who reminded him that, as is the case with all ALS patients, he will eventually pass from the disease, Matt said.

       â€"He told them he still had goals in his life, even though he was bed-ridden,” Matt said. â€"It just blew us away. That says who he is right there, even though he can’t move or speak.”

       â€"Team Dom”--friends and family members who have organized the event for the past two years--have goals, as well, and one of them is to top the $10,000 the first race they held raised.

       â€"Everyone is affected by this,” said Christina Filippakis, Matt’s girlfriend. â€"I’m doing everything I can to help support and raise money. There’s no cure for the disease, so we can have more research and understand the cause and definitely save more lives.”
MORE NEWINGTON NEWS  |  STORY BY MARK DIPAOLA  |  Sep 24 2014  |  COMMENTS?