Boston Globe 4/4/13: After marathoner’s death, friends vow to keep his promise to Nicholas. When Marlborough resident John Tanner, 47, was preparing to run a marathon, he often got a phone call from his young friend Nicholas Dainiak. “Go John,” Nicholas would say, according to his grandmother, Dorothy Noyes. “My hero.” That was back when 9-year-old Nicholas could still speak, before a degenerative condition called Batten disease took his voice, along with his vision and his mobility. For four years, Tanner used every road race he ran to raise awareness of his young friend’s condition and collect money for the Our Promise to Nicholas Foundation, which helps fund Batten disease research. It was during one of these races, the New York City half marathon, that Tanner suffered a fatal heart attack on March 17.

John Tanner’s obituary is online here