KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Ralph Yarl was among thousands of people who gathered at Loose Park in Kansas City, Missouri, on Monday for the "Going the Distance for Brain Injury" run.
The race, which is in its 36th year, raises money to support the nonprofit Brain Injury Association of Kansas and Greater Kansas City (BIAKS).
BIAKS offers resources to people living with brain injuries.
Yarl, 17, suffered a brain injury when he was shot in April by Andrew Lester after going to the wrong home to pick up his siblings.
Before the race, Yarl's mother said his recovery has been an up and down process.
"[A] Brain injury is a process — it’s not an event, it takes time," Cleo Nagbe, Yarl's mom, said. "There are emotional ups and downs. You have their concentration problems, you have their, 'I wanna stay in my room all day,' you have all of that. So it takes a community, it takes a family, it takes a support group — it takes all of that."
Yarl received a medal after completing a 1.5 mile walk.
KSHB 41 also caught up with Tyler Moss, a Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department officer who suffered a brain injury after being shot in the line of duty in 2020.
Moss, who made a miraculous recovery after the shooting, offered Yarl advice on the recovery process.
"Just try to stay positive," Moss said. "It’s pretty fresh, he’s going to be getting better over a period of six months, month to month over a year. He’s going to have to deal with some things that he’s going to be frustrated with and he’s going to just have to try to stay positive."
Moss also hopes to connect with Yarl in the future and act as a support for him.
"I hope that I can be an inspiration to him and hopefully be able to meet him one day," Moss said. "I want to be able to be that resource that he could potentially need in the future if I can be."
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