Josh's goal is to raise $100 per mile of the marathon to benefit the CARES Foundation, for a total of $2620. The money will help in a variety of ways:

• provide one-on-one support and physician referrals for individuals with CAH-related questions and concerns;
• organize regional family conference;
• work to increase CAH awareness in the commonly affected Jewish and Hispanic populations;
• produce Spanish-language versions of our brochures and website;
• continue working to ensure that every baby in the country and abroad receives comprehensive newborn screening tests that include CAH;
• and research for a cure.

There are three easy ways you can donate:

1) Donate online at www.caresfoundation.org. As you fill out the online form, please type JOSH EISENBERG in the "In Honor of" section.

2) Send a check to CARES at the following address: CARES Foundation, Inc. 2414 Morris Avenue Suite 110 Union, NJ 07083 Please write JOSH EISENBERG on the "Memo" portion of the check.

It was clear from the moment Josh as born 32 years ago in Fresno, California, that something was amiss. “I was so jaundiced, I was orange,” he says. Within days, he was gravely ill but thanks to a lucky guess on the part of his pediatrician he was saved from certain death.

Despite this traumatic start to his life, his parents always treated CAH as if it was just another physical condition. “Like being near-sighted,” he explains. He did have severe acne, was always one of the shorter kids in his class, seemed to go to the doctor more often than his peers, liked to eat pickle and crouton salad with French dressing and sometimes had an IV in his room at home, but never felt unusual in any way.

This is exactly how he intends to run the marathon on Sunday. He will walk one minute at the end of every mile but only because he is following the Galloway Method of marathon running. He may drink some pickle juice or add some salt to his Coke at the end of the race to replenish the sodium his body needs but intends to drink nothing more than water and maybe some endurance-formula Gatorade during the race. He will carry a cell phone, wear his Medic Alert necklace and make sure he takes his medications before the race. The only thing he really will be doing differently from others, however, is carefully monitoring his body for signs of impending adrenal crisis: legs that feel like iron, extreme lethargy or nausea.

Josh is one of an estimated 20,000 Americans with Classical CAH: an inherited disorder affecting the adrenal gland that can result in life-threatening imbalances in salt and hormone levels. Until last year, however, Josh had never met another person with CAH.

“Attending the CARES Foundation conference in Indianapolis last year, I realized there is an entire community of CAH-affected individuals out there; many of whom have never met an adult with CAH,” says Josh of this life-changing experience. Therefore, Sunday’s run is also very personal for him, as it is an opportunity to inspire others affected by CAH to believe they can do and be whatever they desire. Moreover, unlike his first run of the marathon in 2004, this time he will be running for a cause.

Even if you cannot donate, please come out to the Chicago Marathon on Sunday, October 22 to cheer on him on with his family and the other 40,000 expected spectators.