When Patrick Clancy crossed the finish line of the Boston Marathon, it wasn’t just a race. It was a father’s journey through heartbreak, love, and the strength to keep going.
Last year, Patrick’s life shattered when his wife, Lindsay Clancy, suffered a devastating bout of postpartum psychosis. In that darkness, she took the lives of their three children — Cora (5), Dawson (3), and Callan (7 months) — before attempting to end her own life. Lindsay survived but remains paralyzed and in psychiatric care.
Patrick, left to face a grief few could imagine, chose forgiveness — and purpose. “In the short time they were here, my kids brought me so much joy,” he wrote on his fundraising page. Running in their memory, he raised over $70,000 for Boston Children’s Hospital, where his youngest son was treated. “Their passion for life was infectious. I’m just trying to be more like them,” he said before the race.
As he ran, each step carried the weight of loss but also the light of love — the unbreakable bond between a father and the children who changed his world forever.
Sometimes healing doesn’t mean moving on. It means carrying their memory with every stride forward.
