Danny Kassap: Remembering a Great Running Friend

It's hard to believe I'll never see Danny Kassap's smiling face – or his unmistakable feet-kicking-the-butt running stride – at races anymore. The 28-year-old fixture of the Toronto running community died on Monday at Sunnybrook Hospital, a day after he turned his Sporting Life 10K race into a light jog to the finish, complaining that he wasn't feeling well. There's no word on the cause of death, but it's likely related to the after-effects of a virus-related heart attack he suffered at the 2008 Berlin Marathon.

When I became launch editor of Canadian Running in 2008, I assigned Alex Hutchinson to write a feature story on Danny for the premiere issue, which chronicled the Congo native's struggles to gain Canadian citizenship (a battle he eventually won). And in my very first editorial I recounted my first encounter with Danny, at the 2002 Backs in Motion 5K in Sunnybrook Park. Here's what I wrote:

This first issue of Canadian Running is about time in more ways than one. For marathoner Danny Kassap, profiled here by Alex Hutchinson, the clock is ticking on both his Canadian citizenship and a qualification time for the Olympics. Will the Congo native become a citizen in time for the Beijing Games? Can he shave enough time off his personal best to meet Canada’s rigid Olympic standard?

I first met Kassap at a 5K race in Toronto in 2002, not long after he burst onto the Ontario road racing scene. I had heard reports of a running phenomenon who had arrived in Ottawa with the Congolese team for the Francophone Games and hadn’t returned home. Coming from a war-ravaged country, I expected Kassap to be a sombre type, or at least somewhat subdued, but the guy I found lined up at the start of that 5K was positively chipper. Much like marathon world record holder Haile Gebrselassie, Kassap has a near-permanent I’m-so-happy-to-be-alive-and-running smile on his face.

In a brief chat before the race start, Kassap told me how glad he was to be in Canada. The gun went off and, in what would become a familiar sight, Kassap flew into the lead, his feet nearly kicking his butt. 'That could be the future of Canadian distance running,' I thought. Six years on, Kassap is still flying, still thrilled to be in Canada and desperate to represent our country at international races. His story is symbolic of how so many of the ups and downs of running are often mirrored in our everyday lives.

I'd eventually become good friends with Danny and must have seen him at 100 races or so in the past 10 years. And no matter what was going on in his life, he was always smiling. He came to Canada with nothing and left us with a legacy.

If you can, make a donation to a memorial fund to help pay for a burial in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, his old training grounds.

Danny Kassap Fund Update

Here's some good news on the Danny Kassap front. The donation site www.dannykassapfund.com has temporarily shut down the donation link to avoid potentially raising too much money.

Here's the lastest update from the site:

The response to this campaign has far, far exceeded our hopes. We've received donations from Newfoundland to British Columbia, and even from the United States - the generosity of the running community has been truly humbling. We've also received more potential good news: It appears Danny may be eligible for a significantly higher payment from OHIP than initially thought; and a charity in Ottawa may be willing to fund one specific part of Danny's treatment (a portable defibrillator vest which he was required to wear before being allowed to fly), which cost just over $3,000 to rent. Neither of these possible sources of funding are confirmed, and it may take several months before we find out if they will actually happen. However, if we add that tentative funding to the money we've received so far, along with other pledges we've received and cheques that we expect will continue arriving next week, we're starting to get close to the minimum goal of $18,000 (a little over 12,000 euros). While it's almost certain that we'll need to raise a little more money later, we're going to TURN OFF THE ONLINE DONATION FEATURE TEMPORARILY, just to make sure we don't run into the "problem" of raising more than we need.

Needless to say, Danny has been overwhelmed by the response, and by the messages of support he has received. If you have any questions, please let us know at dannykassapfund@gmail.com.

Danny Kassap Needs Our Help

This writeup is from http://www.dannykassapfund.com/. Let's help Danny out.

Danny Kassap, one of Canada’s finest distance runners, very nearly died last month when he collapsed while running the Berlin Marathon. Now he needs help from the running community to pay for the lifesaving medical care that he received while hospitalized in Berlin.

If you follow distance running in Canada, you’ve probably heard of Danny Kassap. A native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, he came to Canada as a teenager in 2001 for the Francophone Games. He made a daring escape from the athletes' village, seeking refugee status in Canada on the basis of political persecution.

Meanwhile, Danny found his way to Toronto, and began training with the University of Toronto Track Club. In 2004, he won the first marathon he ever ran in a very impressive time of 2:14:50. For the next several years, he continued to run very fast times on very high mileage, while also working full-time and obtaining his high school equivalency. Danny has never been on any form of social assistance.

After numerous legal setbacks, Danny finally became a landed immigrant in April of this year, and a Canadian citizen in August. As a result, he was finally able to run a race outside of Canada. In April, he travelled to England to run the London Marathon, one of the world’s most prestigious and competitive road races. He finished 15th, just three places behind the reigning Olympic marathon champion Stefano Baldini. In September, he travelled to Berlin to run his first marathon as a Canadian citizen.

For the first several kilometres in Berlin, Danny appeared poised to have another outstanding race. However, near the 5 km mark, disaster struck when Danny suddenly collapsed. A Good Samaritan who happened to be in close proximity to him at the time began administering CPR almost immediately, and a paramedic on a motorcycle got to him within a minute. Danny received between 15-19 shocks from a defibrillator, and the paramedics worked on him for 45 minutes before his condition stabilized. He was placed in a medically-induced coma for several days, and remained in a Berlin hospital for over two weeks before he was able to return home to Toronto.

The doctors determined that Danny suffered a “ventricular fibrillation” (an uncoordinated contraction of the cardiac muscle) brought on by myocarditis (an inflammation of the heart), which in turn was caused by a cold virus. Danny will not be able to run for at least the next three months, but doctors are cautiously optimistic that he will make a full recovery.

Danny received outstanding medical care while in Berlin, but it has left him with a crippling debt. Even with OHIP covering a portion of Danny’s medical bills, he still owes $18,000 to the hospital which cared for him, and which discharged him on the undertaking that the amount owing will be paid in a timely manner.

Danny presently works full-time as an assistant manager at the Running Room. Eighteen thousand dollars is a prohibitively large amount for him to have to repay quickly. Danny has been unable to contact his family since coming to Canada, and even if he could, they would be unable to provide him with any financial assistance. However, we are hopeful that Danny’s many friends and well-wishers within the running community will be able to provide him with some measure of support.

Danny’s primary motivation for running the Berlin Marathon was to secure a spot on his first Canadian national team so that he could proudly represent Canada at next summer’s World Championships. Danny has made a tremendous contribution to the Canadian running community since arriving here more than seven years ago, and now is our chance to return the favour.

You can make a secure online donation at http://www.dannykassapfund.com/.

Danny Kassap Recovering in Berlin Hospital

Canadian marathon runner Danny Kassap, a big inspiration to me in the early days of my running, collapsed 5K into this past Sunday's Berlin Marathon with a heart arrhythmia. James Christie wrote a piece about it today on globeandmail.com.

Alex Hutchinson wrote a feature article about Danny in our premiere issue of Canadian Running Magazine, and we've all been worried sick about him. The latest news sounds promising. Get well soon, Danny.