Amy Williams believes in the importance of setting goals.
As the single mother of 10-year-old twin girls — Alexandra and Samantha, the latter of whom has a cerebral palsy — this philosophy has become an integral part of her life. It’s part of the reason she will be running in the TCS New York City Marathon on Sunday.
“I’ve always had this feeling, ‘At the end of the day, what did I accomplish?’ ” Williams said. “For most of us, the answers can be very gray. But to me, the marathon is very black and white. You either finished, or you didn’t. I felt I needed a goal, one that would be hard to achieve, but one where there would be no question as to whether I achieved it or not.”
Marathons are never easy, just ask anyone who has run one. For Williams, her first race Sunday is especially ambitious given that she only started running less than a year ago.
However, she and her daughters are accustomed to challenges.
Williams, 44, was living with her then-husband in southeastern Idaho when she became pregnant with the twins. She had a difficult pregnancy, and when she went into labor, at 18 weeks, she had to be airlifted to a hospital in Salt Lake City.
The newborn girls, who go by Alex and Sammy, spent several weeks in the hospital and were diagnosed with twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome — a rare complication that affects identical twins. Both suffered brain hemorrhages as a result. Sammy’s was more severe, and she developed cerebral palsy.
As soon as Alex and Sammy were well enough to travel, Williams returned with them to her native Brooklyn Heights. Back home in New York, her parents (Bob and the late Elaine Stone) and sister (Liz Abraham) helped with child care and support. The girls have since thrived in the city, and Sammy has defied doctors’ prognoses by achieving several key growth milestones.
Williams is enrolled in a special education program, and both girls are active in Extreme Kids and Crew, a nonprofit organization that provides play spaces for children with special needs and their families. Williams has joined the EKC’s marathon team, which has already raised $14,000 — enough to open a new facility in the city.
“Sammy has an incredible drive to succeed,” said Williams, who works as a vice president at a health care data analytics firm. “But Alex’s life has also been hard, with what they have both gone through. By running, I want to show them that something that seems to be impossible can be done if you keep working at it.”
The 2017 TCS New York City Marathon will be televised live locally from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday on ABC/7 and for the rest of the nation from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on ESPN2.
