Son's Tribute To His Mother
Susan Campbell
November 7, 2007


This is the hard part, says a smiling Bradlee Benn, who just 24 hours earlier had finished the New York City Marathon. And then he slowly stands from his chair at a West Hartford coffee shop.

For a 32-year-old athlete, he's a little stiff. Last night, he said, his knees felt like someone was swinging a sledge hammer at them.

But he did it, all 26.2 miles, with 38,000 others who crossed the finish line.

Monday, if you pored over The New York Times' list of people who finished Sunday's marathon in under five hours, you saw in agate on Page F18: "BENN, B 32M."

Benn's time is unofficial at a little over four hours, and that's better than the West Hartford native thought he'd do. He also raised about $7,000 for the Thumbs Up Foundation, which he started in honor of his mother, Suzette Lorraine Moore Benn, a petite woman he called Big M. And that's better than he expected, too. Things are going so well, he's planning a dinner and dance fundraiser early next year, maybe keep the momentum going.

Suzette died last February of complications from Lou Gehrig's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. She is probably best known in Connecticut for her advocacy for children and public health. During her 15 years at the state Department of Health, she was Gov. Lowell P. Weicker's special assistant for health affairs.

She worked at the Urban League and volunteered at Hartford Hospital, the American Heart Association and the American Red Cross. She worked on multiple commissions and, in her spare time, wrapped gifts for the elderly. She published articles, won awards.

Benn's parents divorced when he was an adolescent, and his mother continued her professional obligations and still maintained perfect attendance at his school events. She was a strict but loving mother; Brad considered her his biggest fan.

She was diagnosed with the degenerative neurological disease in July 2005, and sad things started happening quickly. At least she was able to dance at her son's May 2006 wedding. Last year, after she'd moved into Benn's home in New York, she and her son watched the marathon and cheered the runners together. She gave high-fives to hundreds of people she'd never met.

Different people grieve in different ways. When Suzette Benn died, her son took to running, and the happy memory of his mother cheering the year before stuck with him. He decided to run the marathon and founded the nonprofit Thumbs Up Foundation (named for his mother's frequent picture pose, grinning, with thumbs up) to raise awareness about ALS and to raise money for research, care-giving and scholarships.

He trained and ran in shirts that bore the name of the foundation, with pictures of him and his mother. On Sunday, he wore a shirt that said BRAD on one side and BIG M on the other. Depending on the side of the street, onlookers cheered for both Brad and Big M. It didn't matter. Benn knew who they were cheering. His wife, Jennifer, was there, as was his father and several cousins. They followed his route, and each time they yelled out to him that he looked good.

He couldn't help it. He couldn't quit smiling. His legs were stumps of pain, but he couldn't quit smiling. It was, he said, wonderful to run along there with his mother.

On Monday, he eased his sore body into his car and drove back to West Hartford to show his mother his heavy marathon medal, and to give her gravestone at Fairview Cemetery a little rub. He wanted to tell her: I made it, Big M. We made it.

For more information on the Thumbs Up Foundation, visit www.thumbsupfoundation.com.

Susan Campbell is at scampbell@courant.com or 860-241-6454.
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