Why I’m Running: ‘Running has been a peaceful way to reset my mind’

"I felt trapped in my body, a body utterly disconnected from my mind, a mind wholly separated from reality."

April 13, 2024

1 minute to read

In our “Why I’m Running” series, Boston Marathon runners share what’s inspiring them to make the 26.2-mile trek from Hopkinton to Boston.

Name: Taite Panton
Age: 18
From: Duxbury

I’m a 19-year-old resident of Duxbury who will run in the Boston Marathon to raise money for the treatment of a condition I have suffered with for more than half my life.

In 2008, I woke up completely different than the happy, healthy and well-adjusted 5 year old I’d been the day before.

Instead, I was terrified of dangers and hallucinations that existed only in my mind. I had screaming fits.

I experienced such severe ticks that I could not ride a bike or play with other children. Acute separation anxiety kept me at my mother’s side for years.

By the time I was seven years old, doctors recommended that I be institutionalized. I felt trapped in my body, a body utterly disconnected from my mind, a mind wholly separated from reality.

I lived this way for three years until, finally, a diagnosis came: Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (P.A.N.S), a disorder of the immune system that causes antibodies to attack the brain at any sign of infection.

My story is similar to that of up to 33,000 (or one in 200) children in Massachusetts who suffer today from Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptococcus (PANDAS) or PANS.

Now I’m a freshman at the University of New Hampshire and am studying environmental science and nutrition.

I’m ready to run in the Boston Marathon with the goal of raising $10,000 for the JBC PANS & PANDAS FOUNDATION, which provides support, information, hope and funding to families whose children suffer from PANS/PANDAS.

Running and biking have helped me heal. They give me something to look forward to. Running has been a peaceful way to reset my mind.

Today, I’m pretty much healed and want to be a role model for other kids who have PANS/PANDAS.

Editor’s note: This entry may have been lightly edited for clarity or grammar.