North Bay runner, inspired by 10-year-old nephew with cancer, conquers grueling desert ultramarathon NBC Bay Area [Video]

Last month, John Verdon completed the grueling Marathon des Sables to raise funds for his nephew Buddy, who is battling osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. 

The Marathon des Sables, often regarded as the toughest footrace on Earth, is a 160-mile ultramarathon spread across six days in the Sahara Desert. 

“You have varying stage lengths and varying difficulties, so the intensity of the heat, for example, is gonna be different on days,” Verdon said. “And then you’re carrying your own pack, you’re carrying your food for the week, you’re sleeping in a tent with seven other people you have perhaps never met at all.”

Verdon teamed up with MIB Agents, a pediatric osteosarcoma nonprofit that helps patients, families, and medical professionals raise research money through the marathon.

“4% of federal funding goes to children’s cancers and an even smaller percentage of that to osteosarcoma,” Verdon said.

There have been no new treatments for the cancer in the past …