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One Philadelphia Runner Participating In Marathon Weekend Amid Chemo Treatments

By John McDevitt

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It's Philadelphia Marathon weekend, and many of the runners have stories of inspiration.

We spoke with a man with colon cancer who will be participating in an 8K run tomorrow morning.

Every year for the past five years, Dr. Michael Ross, a sports medicine physician at Rothman Institute, would participate in the 8K run, which is the day before the Philadelphia Marathon.

Two months ago, he was diagnosed with colon cancer.

We spoke with him while he was undergoing chemotherapy treatment (top photo).  He'll temporarily disconnect his pump for the run.

"People keep saying I'm inspirational, and I hear it a lot," he tells KYW Newsradio, "and the truth is I don't think I'm all that inspirational.  I'm just doing the stuff I want to do, and that's what is important to me right now -- to get through this and be out there."

There will be about 100 supporters of Dr. Ross at the race on Saturday, some running with him and others cheering him on from along the course.

Says Ross, you'll know them by their shirts:

"Our shirts have a semicolon on the front, because I had surgery to remove part of my colon.  So I now have  a semi-colon!  So we have a giant semicolon on the front and Rothman Institute on the back."

The 8K begins tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m.  The start line is at 22nd Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

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