Please support my 2024 Boston Marathon® Jimmy Fund Walk presented by Hyundai, adding my steps to those of thousands of others walking towards a world in which nobody has to die of cancer.
Elizabeth and I made our first Jimmy Fund Walk in 2019, nine months after I had been diagnosed with an anaplastic astrocytoma brain tumor and still receiving chemotherapy. We feel blessed to be making our sixth walk this year.
We walk in gratitude for my neurosurgeon, neuro oncologist, radiation oncologist and all the doctors, nurses, radiologists and radiation and MRI technicians at Dana Farber who have brought me this far. They define compassionate care. I also walk to honor the good friends I've made along the way, and in memory of those friends (sadly too many) who lost their lives to cancer. This year we will be particularly thinking of our dear friend Deborah Sheehan, who died from anaplastic astrocytoma in 2023, and my sister-in-law Deborah, who is currently undergoing cancer treatment.
Five and a half years on this road as a patient, I’ve come to understand that each of our life stories is about time. When you have a cancer that is not currently curable, the available therapies aim to keep you stable and buy time until there is a cure.
That is precious time with your family, friends and colleagues. For me, most importantly, it is time with my wife, son and daughter in law, time with our granddaughter (now four and one-half years old!) and grandson (who will be two years old by the time of the 2024 Walk), and time to welcome our youngest grandson, who will be seven months old.
When you make a gift to the Jimmy Fund by supporting my Walk, you’re directly supporting Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s unique 50-50 balance between cutting-edge research and compassionate patient care. The Jimmy Fund provides over 62% of Dana-Farber’s unrestricted annual funding, and supports over 700 initiatives at Dana Farber, especially to fund the next breakthroughs in cancer treatment, work that is too early in development to get funding from federal or other sources.
I have seen firsthand, with my fellow patients, how fast these breakthroughs can go from idea to clinical trials to state-of-the-art therapies.
Dana-Farber is a fantastic resource for those of us who live in the Boston area, but every time I visit to the Institute, I am reminded that it is a national and international resource – I have met other patients from all over the country and the world. The therapeutic advances developed at Dana-Farber are quickly shared with other cancer centers. If you or someone you love has been touched by cancer, we are all in this together, wherever you are!
Thank you for supporting my Jimmy Fund Walk fundraising. Each small step we take brings us closer to a world where people don’t have to die from cancer.
With very best wishes to you and your families,
Christopher Barnett
