NYPD Sergeant Runs NYC Marathon Cancer-Free After Years-Long Battle

This year's New York City Marathon marks a milestone for more than just the race itself, which turns 50 on Sunday. NYPD Sergeant Tatiana Simons will cross the start line cancer-free for the first time in years after battling the disease through her last five marathons. Simons, promoted to sergeant on Friday, began racing with New York Road Runners back in 2014 while still at the Police Academy. Running became both a professional asset — useful for chasing suspects as a patrol officer — and a personal coping tool during treatment, she said, describing the rhythm of her feet hitting pavement as a release for difficult emotions. Her determination showed most clearly in 2025, when she ran the Boston Marathon and underwent a double mastectomy the very next day, despite others urging her to skip the race. Simons credits her father, a retired NYPD sergeant whose badge she now carries, as a source of her work ethic. On Sunday, her husband, an NYPD Harbor Patrol lieutenant, her two young sons, and her father plan to cheer her on. The marathon runs 26.2 miles from Staten Island through Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx, finishing in Central Park, with roughly 60,000 runners from over 140 countries expected.