by Pat van dem Beemt

Jeff Arricale has watched two of his four children struggle to breathe because of a lung disease. He never will experience their daily battle, but he is going to find out what it’s like to gasp for air.

The 36-year-old portfolio manager at T. Rowe Price left his home in Monkton on March 24 to run in the 23rd annual Marathon des Sables, a 151-mile race in the Sahara Desert in Morocco. (Morocco is a French-speaking country; the race name translates as Marathon of the Sands.)

While raising money for three charities, including Johns Hopkins Hospital’s pediatric pulmonary division, Arricale will face temperature swings from 120 degrees during the day to 30 degrees at night. Using a guidebook and compass, he and the other 750 runners, including 70 Americans, will slog along sand dunes, salt flats and jagged plateaus over six days, beginning March 28. They will cover 52 miles on their longest day.

The race can be dangerous. In 1994, an Italian runner lost his way during a sandstorm. He was found nine days later and 30 pounds lighter. Last year, a French runner died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack, according to a race Web site. This year, a team of 42 doctors and nurses will monitor the runners’ health.

While race organizers will provide water and tents, all runners must carry their food and clothing on their backs. Arricale’s most cherished possession is the photo of his four children attached to his 23-pound backpack, he said.

“Jessie and I want our kids to see their parents living active and healthy lifestyles, setting goals and achieving difficult objectives,” he said.

The Arricales’ 6-year-old son, Jake, and 8-month-old daughter, Gracie, have children’s interstitial lung disease, a grouping of about 100 lung disorders with no known cure. Their sisters, Emma, 4, and Sami, 2, have healthy lungs.

Jake has been hospitalized countless times in his young life, but continues to show improvement and now needs oxygen only at night.

Gracie began breathing rapidly last month, and has been hospitalized since. She will have surgery to implant a feeding tube while her father is away.

“When you breathe harder and faster, you need extra calories,” explained Dr. Peter Mogayzel, a pediatric pulmonologist at Johns Hopkins. “We want to make sure she’s getting enough calories to grow.”

Last year, Arricale ran the Great Wall of China Marathon, raising $60,000 for Johns Hopkins. That paid for Dr. Leland Fan, of Houston, an authority on children’s chronic lung disease, to come to Baltimore to lecture and see patients.

Few people raise money specifically for the hospital’s pediatric pulmonary division, Mogayzel said.

“This is a unique opportunity for us,” he said. “We hope to fund pilot research grants with money he raises.”

Arricale also is raising money for Special Olympics Maryland and Opportunity International, a nonprofit organization that offers small loans to people in developing countries. He said he will match donations — up to $10,000 for Johns Hopkins and up to $1,000 each for the other two organizations. He also will receive matching funds from T. Rowe Price.

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