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Students Run Marathon for Fallen Friend
30 Apr
Summary
- Five Upper St. Clair High School students run the Pittsburgh Marathon Relay.
- They honor their friend Sam Levine, who died of brain cancer.
- The team aims to raise $5,000 for DIPG awareness and research.
Five 10th graders from Upper St. Clair High School are competing in the Pittsburgh Marathon Relay to honor their late friend, Sam Levine. The group, known as the Lumberjacks, is running to raise funds and awareness for DIPG, a difficult-to-treat brain tumor. Sam Levine was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2024 and passed away in December 2025 at the age of 19.
Their goal is to raise $5,000 for the ChadTough Defeat DIPG Foundation. The students are inspired by Sam's own perseverance. His father, Steve Levine, a teacher in the same school district, expressed deep gratitude for the students' efforts to keep Sam's memory alive and fight for a cure.
The runners, including Anthony Mastro and Sam Cranganu, see the marathon as a way to represent Sam's courage and strength. They aim to spread the message that difficult challenges can be overcome, mirroring Sam's own fight.
