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With months to live, one Chattanooga man battles cancer and this weekend’s half marathon

By David Cobb March 3, 2016 7 min read

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Chattanooga man battles cancer and this weekend’s half marathon

Nathan Sexton poses with his son, Jack, and wife, Elizabeth, on Father's Day following a surgery to remove a baseball-sized tumor from his brain.

Nathan Sexton, 29, head of the Business Intelligence department for Bellhops, goes on a 5k lunch training run on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016. Sexton is eight and a half months into a fight with brain cancer. His initial prognosis was that he'd have 15 months to live so he decided to make the most of it and train to compete in the Chattanooga Marathon half marathon on March 6.

Nathan Sexton sits with his Bellhops team following radiation.

Nathan Sexton, 29, goes on a 5k lunch training run on Feb. 25. Sexton is eight and a half months into a fight with brain cancer. His initial prognosis was that he'd have 15 months to live, so he decided to make the most of it and train to compete in the Chattanooga Marathon half marathon on Sunday.

ERLANGER CHATTANOOGA MARATHON

Saturday9-10 a.m.: Classic 150 5K starts at Tennessee Pavilion9 a.m.-7 p.m.: Expo/Packet pickup/Registration at First Tennessee Pavilion11 a.m.: Kids’ 1-mile Fun Run starts at First Tennessee Pavilion11 a.m.-4 p.m.: Live entertainmentSunday8 a.m.: Marathon, marathon relay and half marathon start at Broad Street and Tennessee Aquarium>9 a.m.: Post-race party and food at First Tennessee Pavilion

As Nathan Sexton strives for the finish line in Sunday’s Erlanger Chattanooga half marathon, he knows there will be pain.

That pain, he says, will simply be an analogy for what God is teaching him on a life journey that was rudely interrupted last summer.

June 4, 2015, was supposed to be a banner day for Sexton and his employer, Bellhops.

But it turned into a nightmare.