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Connecticut frat helps disabled brother climb mountain

Laura Roberts, CNN

HAMDEN, CT -- A Quinnipiac University fraternity is showing they know the meaning of brotherhood. When one of their members couldn't participate in a campus tradition, the rest of the fraternity carried him through it.

Students climb the "Sleeping Giant" to see a beautiful view of Quinnipiac University. Located just a few feet off campus, most students say it's a part of their college experience.

Junior Joey Mullaney thought he wouldn't have the chance to participate. He has a rare neuro-muscular disorder called Friedreich's Ataxia and is confined to a wheelchair.

Last spring, Mullaney's fraternity brothers at Sigma Phi Epsilon they told Joey they were going out to breakfast. Instead, they drove to the mountain.

Mullaney's brothers literally carried him up the mountain on their backs, one by one.

The brotherhood is sharing their experience now because they have a new mountain to climb: finding a cure for Friedreich's Ataxia.

For the second time this year, they're hosting a ten mile bike race starting on Quinnipiac's campus. Last year, they raised $30,000 dollars for research leading to treatments and a cure.