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Bergen Native Pushed Quadriplegic Boyfriend Along Boston Marathon Route

"For years, running has been a way for me to relax, unwind, and take some time for myself," writes Old Tappan native Kaitlyn Kiely in Shape.com. 

Kaitlyn Kiely pushes Matt Wetherbee through the 26.2 mile Boston Marathon course.

Kaitlyn Kiely pushes Matt Wetherbee through the 26.2 mile Boston Marathon course.

Photo Credit: Kaitlyn Kiely Instagram
Kiely and Wetherbee.

Kiely and Wetherbee.

Photo Credit: Kaitlyn Kiely Instagram

"It has a way of making me feel strong, empowered, free, and happy. But I never truly realized what it meant to me until I was faced with one of the greatest adversities of my life."

In 2016, her boyfriend of seven years, Matt Wetherbee, became paralyzed from the shoulders down during a basketball game.

Kiely promised him when he began intensive physical therapy that year that they would run the Boston Marathon together -- even if it meant she'd push him in a wheelchair the entire way.

That's exactly what happened, thanks to a partnership with  HOTSHOT, a local manufacturer of sports shot drinks aimed to prevent and treat muscle cramping, to run the race route a week before it opened up to registered runners, Kiely wrote on Shape.com.

After weeks of training, sometimes with Wetherbee in his chair, others weighted bags up to 150-pounds when it was too cold for her boyfriend to join her, the pair celebrated an emotional moment crossing the finish line on Monday, April 9 -- happy to accomplish what they set out to do two years ago.

FULL STORY: CLICK HERE.

KNOW SOMEONE RUNNING ON MARATHON MONDAY? EMAIL CLEVINE@DAILYVOICE.COM.

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