Nothing could get in the way of father-son duo John and Jack Huybers when it came to participating in the Geist 5K. Not even cerebral palsy.

Cerebral palsy is a condition that affects nearly 764,000 children and adults in the United States. Eight thousand babies and infants are diagnosed each year, just as Windermere resident Jack Huybers was eight years ago.

Jack was born 11 weeks prematurely. Weighing a mere 3.1 pounds at birth, he was kept in the neonatal intensive care unit for two months. Defying the odds, Jack is healthy today. His father happily reports, “Jack is off the charts (on the high end) in both height and weight now for his age.”

Jack lives a full life from his wheelchair. He doesn’t let cerebral palsy stop him from an active lifestyle. Jack enjoys swimming and is a member of the Windermere Swim Team. He also enjoys Tae Kwon Do, participating in a class geared toward special needs children.

The entire Huybers family values physical fitness. Daughter Hayden first learned of the Geist 5K through her and Jack’s school, Hoosier Road Elementary. She rallied the family, including mother Mimi, to participate. Initially, John and Hayden planned to run the course while Mimi pushed Jack in his wheelchair.

Just prior to the race, however, an illness in Mimi’s family required her to go out of town. John, Hayden and Jack decided they still wanted to participate in the race. John and Hayden both wanted to run, but John was hesitant. He was not sure how well Jack’s wheelchair would hold up through the race.

“I thought we would just start out and see how it went,” John said. “If we had to walk, then we would. But after we got started, it seemed to be going well, so we just continued to run.”

John, who just turned 40, got his start with running in college at IU with the Army ROTC. During active duty after college, he began running even more, and that continues today.

“I have run in two 500 Festival Mini Marathons over the last five years.” says John. He hopes to instill a love of running in his children. After participating in two 5Ks with Hayden recently, John says, “I find the 5K to be a great distance to get kids interested in running.”

John’s physical fitness was put to the test during the race. Pushing your 95-pound son in a wheelchair while running over three miles is no easy feat even for the fittest of runners. The family didn’t skip a beat, even with the added challenge.

“All of us finished the Geist 5K in almost the same exact time as my daughter and I ran the Glenview, Ill., 5K two weeks earlier,” exclaims John. He surely underscores his effort when he says, “Pushing Jack’s wheelchair during the race wasn’t too bad.”

Mimi also is very supportive of her son and serves as an advocate for people with disabilities. (She walked the Glenview 5K while pushing Jack in his wheelchair). Mimi has high hopes for Jack when it comes to his independence in athletics.

“What we’d really want is to have Jack be able to participate in these types of things independently, and we are trying to find a bicycle for him to ride independently,” Mimi said.

With his family’s love and support, Jack Huybers has gone from disabled to “enabled.” The Huybers family is truly an inspiration to us all.

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