Our Story

Our Story:  The Long Run Foundation was founded in October 2021 by the current President of the Board of Directors, Wendy Ryan.  Wendy conceived of the foundation in the early days of the COVID pandemic when she was confined to her home because of a rare bowel disorder that she suffered while overseas in 2011.  Wendy had started collecting art seriously on her first overseas assignment in 2001 in Jakarta, Indonesia.  Upon returning to the United States, she gradually acquired a contemporary art collection focusing on emerging American painters, and created a gallery space in her home. 

Wendy cares deeply about supporting and creating connections with the artists in her collection.  Driven by a belief that art makes the world a better place, Wendy also developed a deep relationship with visual art as an emotional lifeline when, in her early forties, her intenstine failed. Living, surrounded by art, allowed Wendy to escape the realities, her declining health and isolation of being unable to leave for extended periods. Unable to eat or drink, Wendy survived using Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN) for multiple years.  When it became clear that was not going to be enough and her small intestine was failing, Wendy was put on the small bowel transplant list in October 2021.  Gratefully, she received a transplant in February 2022.  During multiple hospital visits to MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Wendy and her husband Shaun (The Long Run Foundation Treasurer), would often see the paintings that local artists brought to the hospital, and these served to truly brighten spirits on hard days.  Small bowel transplants are incredibly rare.  In 2022 only 83 small bowel transplants were performed and 13 were done at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.

Today Wendy is doing much better than she was and still loves her art collection which covers most of the walls in her home.  She is severely immune compromised now and the art allows her to ‘travel’ to places without ever leaving her home.  Pictures in the kitchen allowe Wendy to drink her morning tea at a museum café.  Portraits along the stairwell allow her to imagine swimming in azure seas.  A painting in the dining room allows Wendy to enter an art fair. In sum, medical intervention helped save her body and art helped save her heart.