Eugene Decker, DO, Runs for his Life and the Lives of Others

Phillipsburg, NJ (12/16/2016) – For Dr. Eugene Decker, the song, “It’s a Small World After All,” is more than an anthem Disney popularized in the 1960s.
To the clinical director of the residency program at St. Luke’s University Health Network’s Warren Campus, it’s part inspiration, part fight song in his quest to run in the annual Disney World half-marathon next month.

Dr. Decker, who also sees patients at Coventry Family Practice located at 755 Memorial Parkway, Suite 300, in Phillipsburg, is registered for the race as with his two grown sons and his daughter-in-law as Team Decker. They are running to raise money for an organization that is near and dear to Dr. Decker’s heart: the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

“This is very, very personal for me,” explains Decker. “I am running for hundreds of patients. I am running for patients who I have diagnosed and are cured, and patients who have died. All of the money we raise goes back to the Lehigh Valley to patients who might need an Uber ride to an appointment or help with medical bills.

“This is one of the biggest races I have ever run, definitely,” Decker adds.

Decker’s passion for exercise and being healthy has guided him just about every day of his adult life. He has tried to influence his own children as well as the young athletes he has coached for the past 22 years as an assistant track and field and cross country coach at Notre Dame High School and head cross country coach at St. Jane’s Elementary/Middle School CYO program in Easton.

“I am a streaker,” Decker says, quickly adding there is no need to blush. In this case, being a streaker has less to do with how much clothing a person is running around in than it does with the number of consecutive days a person has been running. For Decker, who prefers to run first thing in the morning, his running streak is an impressive 29 years, 6 months, 9 days and counting as of Dec. 9.

Team Decker has met Disney’s required donation goal of $8,000. With little more than two weeks to go until race time, donations total $9,603. The team hopes to hit the $10,000 donation mark before the race.

“I have to say Disney is my favorite place in the world. It is just one of the places you can go to have the perfect day. This will be my 17th trip, and it is the perfect place for me to put it all together,” he adds.

To make a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through Team Decker, visit http://pages.teamintraining.org/vtnt/wdw17/TeamDecker. The deadline to make a donation is 12/27/16.

About St. Luke’s

Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a non-profit, regional, fully integrated and nationally recognized network providing services at seven hospitals and more than 270 outpatient sites. The network’s service area includes Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, Schuylkill, Bucks, Montgomery, Berks and Monroe counties in Pennsylvania and in Warren County in New Jersey. Dedicated to advancing health education, St. Luke’s operates the nation’s oldest School of Nursing and 22 graduate medical educational programs and is considered a major teaching hospital, the only one in the region. In partnership with Temple University, St. Luke’s created the region’s first Medical School. Repeatedly, including 2016, St. Luke’s has earned Truven’s 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation as well as 50 Top Cardiovascular program in addition to other honors for clinical excellence. St. Luke’s is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of St. Luke’s information technology applications such as electronic medical records, telehealth, online scheduling and pricing information. St. Luke’s is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest cost providers in comparison to major teaching hospitals and other health systems.