A father is running a marathon to raise money and awareness for SIDS after losing his daughter

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC-TV) – Karl Purvis wakes up everyday at 5 a.m. ready to hit the pavement.

“I started doing 5k’s and all of the sudden one of my wife’s co-workers was like, I’m going to run a half marathon, would you train with me? And I was like sure, why not?” said Purvis.

Purvis wasn’t always a runner; at least not until his daughter, Kaiya, became his reason to lace up.

“On Tuesday afternoon, November 16 at about 4 in the afternoon, I got a phone call from the babysitter who was frantic,” said Purvis. “All she could say is, ‘she’s not breathing’.”

Kaiya was rushed to the hospital and passed away soon after. Purvis and his wife say it was sudden infant death syndrome, also known as SIDS, which took her life. She was only five months old.

“We’ve learned a lot about this since then, but the one thing we found out is after all this, we have a full autopsy report at home which says we had a healthy, happy 5-month-old baby,” Purvis said.

That was 2010.

Since then, Purvis has run-half marathons, 15k’s- he’s even hosted a golf tournament.

He’s been doing anything he can to raise awareness about SIDS–the leading cause of death among babies less than one year old.

But all the races and events were all about working toward what he’s about to do next: a marathon in New York City this November to raise money for a foundation, called CJ First Candle, which also raises awareness about SIDS.

I’ve raised just shy of $600 since we started a couple weeks ago.

Purvis said he’s got a long way to go on the crowd funding and the running, but is going to cross both finish lines with Kaiya’s help.

“Sometimes when running races, I know someone’s up there to help get me through it give me the strength to help finish the race,” Purvis said.

To donate, head here.