john Paul's story

Champion Possibility with John Paul Lambert

The second oldest of five children, John Paul is a 15-year-old American who lives in Armenia with his family. His youngest brother, Joseph, has Down syndrome. John Paul comes from a family whose members live their lives in service to others. In fact, they have been living abroad since 2008 when his dad began work with an organization that helps reduce poverty in Asia.

On October 5, John Paul will run a half marathon to raise awareness for Down syndrome and has committed to helping our Team Iron Will families by donating any money he raises! He told us, “Initially I was going to run this with my dad, since we loved running together. He died from cancer on September 15, and I decided to run it alone to honor his memory and use it as an opportunity to do something good for others.”

John Paul, who has run one other half marathon in the past, sees the value his brother brings to the world, and he shared, “Having him as a brother has helped me to realize that the world doesn’t treat him fairly. I want the world to know that he deserves the same opportunities that everyone else has and to be treated no differently. Hopefully this fundraiser will help raise awareness.” 

John Paul says that Joseph has helped him “build empathy” and makes him “happier and more positive in general.” He explained, “The time I spend playing with him one-on-one makes me feel like a child again, something that a lot of people lose as they get older.” John Paul says he loves being with his brother and doing fun things like jumping on the trampoline or simply reading together. He offers this advice for other young people who want to make a difference in the world: “Take the opportunity to just go out and do it. The biggest thing that slowed me down from doing an event like this was the fear of failure [and thinking] ‘What if I don't raise enough money, what if I don't do it well enough?’ Just doing something, even if it is small, will help.”

Cheer him on this Sunday, October 5, 2025. The race is in Yerevan, Armenia, but his fans around the world will be rooting for him. 

You can support John Paul’s fundraiser at this link. 



Watching young people stand up and champion our children with Down syndrome gives me such hope! This young man in particular, who is running this race in honor of his dad and carrying on his legacy of service to others, has truly touched us. 

From John Paul's Mom:
We are an American family living abroad since 2008 when [my husband] began work with an organization that helps reduce poverty in Asia. In 2021, our fifth child was born with Down syndrome while we were living in Vietnam. It didn’t take long to see that the world did not value our son’s life, and resources for him were incredibly hard to find in developing countries. So wherever we’ve lived, we have always done family fundraisers to help local families gain needed resources and to raise awareness within our communities. In 2024, Don was diagnosed with a glioblastoma and given a 12-month prognosis [he passed away in September 2025]. My fundraising efforts were put on hold as I became a caregiver, but to my surprise, the children stepped up. My oldest began a club at his school to raise awareness [SC1] within the school community, and now John Paul took the initiative to run for a cause. We’ve decided to support Team Iron Will because of the great work Cathy does within the DS community.