Runners all over the world are planning to “Run with Rivs” in solidarity with a former Hermiston graduate battling cancer.

Tommy Rivers Puzey, who grew up in Hermiston before making a name for himself in the long-distance running world, is in an intensive care unit in Scottsdale, Arizona, being treated for an aggressive form of cancer known as Primary Pulmonary NK T-Cell Lymphoma.

Participants in the Run with Rivs effort are encouraged to run, hike, swim, bike or otherwise log workout miles during Aug. 1-9, and then log their miles at runsignup.com/Race/AZ/Anywhereintheworld/RunwithRivs and make a donation in his name. People can also donate directly to a GoFundMe account at gofundme.com/f/Tommy-Rivers-Rest-Up to help cover his medical bills and his family’s expenses. They have committed that any funds they do not need will go to support the Navajo Nation’s battle with COVID-19.

Rivers Puzey’s father, Kim Puzey, who still lives in Hermiston and is the general manager of the Port of Umatilla, said the amount of support that has flowed in from around the world since his son’s hospitalization has been humbling.

“You can’t help but be overwhelmed by the goodness of people,” he said.

Since Rivers Puzey became a professional endurance athlete, Puzey said, he has inspired hundreds of thousands of people in their own fitness journey. They virtually train with him through training courses on iFit on NordicTrack treadmills, or follow his career through Instagram and in running magazines. He has run in large marathons, such as the Las Vegas Marathon, multiple times, placed 16th in the Boston Marathon in 2017 and was an Olympic hopeful early this year until an injury cut that dream short.

On the GoFundMe page for Rivers Puzey, many of the page’s donors described how he had pushed them to be more fit, even though they had never met him in person.

“Tommy showed me how to enjoy running again through his iFit training programs,” one wrote. “He is a wealth of knowledge and a true joy with a free spirit that is infectious. Although I have never met him, I feel like I know him through our hours of early morning runs.”

Puzey said their family has been “blown away” by the number of people reaching out from all over the world with offers of help. He said what Rivers Puzey would want, and what his family wants, is for everyone to be the best, kindest person they can be by supporting others through positive energy and prayer, text messages, greeting cards, food or whatever else they might have to offer.

He wrote an update on Facebook on Monday, Aug. 3, stating that Rivers Puzey’s oxygen levels were improving and that doctors were “incrementally and artfully reducing mechanical assistance and sedation.”

Rivers Puzey was originally admitted to the hospital in early July with severe respiratory symptoms, and he was eventually diagnosed with lymphoma on July 23.