Amazing Grace Jimmy Fund Walk Team's Fundraising Page

By participating in the 2023 Boston Marathon® Jimmy Fund Walk on October 1 in honor of Grace Markos, an amazing young lady in our community who is currently bravely battling Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), the Amazing Grace Jimmy Fund Walk Team will be making every step count towards the ultimate finish line: a world without cancer!

Food for thought:

-Cancer is the leading cause of death by disease past infancy among children in the United States. (NIH)

-An estimated 400,000 children around the world develop cancer each year, only half of whom are ever diagnosed. (St. Jude Children's Hospital)

-The cancer incidence rate among children has been increasing since the mid-1970s. (American Cancer Society)

-Among children and adolescents (ages 0 to 19) in the United States, the most common types of cancer are leukemias, brain and central nervous system (CNS) tumors, and lymphomas. (NIH)

-The overall outlook for children and adolescents with cancer has improved greatly over the last half-century; despite the overall decrease in mortality, approximately 1,800 children and adolescents still die of cancer each year in the United States, indicating that new advances and continued research to identify effective treatments are required to further reduce childhood cancer mortality. (NIH)

Grace was diagnosed with ALL in October 2022, and has been undergoing treatment at Boston Children's Hospital and The Jimmy Fund Clinic at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Through this experience, the Markos family has been challenged in ways they had never imagined, but they are stronger than they knew was possible! Despite the difficult days they have all endured, they are finding the positives wherever they can, and they have decided that they will be the change they want to see for pediatric cancer patients and their families! 

The Markos family has openly shared their journey with family, friends and their community in an effort to raise awareness and promote funding for pediatric cancer research to improve treatment options for the children of today who are battling cancer,  and for the children of the future who will face a pediatric cancer diagnosis. By sharing Grace's journey and their own personal thoughts so openly and honestly, they have already made more of an impact than they will ever truly know! 

Grace and her family have inspired so many of us and we would like to help support their efforts to be the change they want to see for pediatric cancer patients. They've taught us how to help through blood donation, they've shown us how a community can come together to support those who need it most, and now they're raising awareness about the realities of pediatric cancer, including the lack of funding specifically aimed at pediatric cancer research and treatment. We want to join them in their efforts to fund the important programs that are helping Grace conquer her battle while receiving care at The Jimmy Fund Clinic (www.jimmyfund.org/about-us/jimmy-fund-clinic/), where children and their families go for world-renowned outpatient cancer treatment at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

The members of the Amazing Grace Jimmy Fund Walk Team will be raising funds that will be directly benefiting the Jimmy Fund Clinic where Grace is undergoing treatment. The clinic provides compassionate pediatric, family-centered care through a variety of programs. When Grace and other children have their treatments at the clinic, their days can be quite long. To support children and their families during their visits, activities are provided to help improve the overall experience for them; crafting is Grace's favorite activity to help pass the time during her days at The Jimmy Fund Clinic. To show our appreciation to The Jimmy Fund Clinic, we have directed the funds we raise to benefit the Pediatric Activity Fund which supports arts and crafts activities such as painting, scrap-booking, making sand art, puppet-making, or tie-dying t-shirts; this fund also supports special events such as the annual summer festivals at the Franklin Park Zoo and trick-or-treating for Halloween to name a couple. With the amazing leadership of Lisa Scherber, the goal of the Jimmy Fund Clinic's Pediatric Activities Program is to  help relieve the burden of cancer for Dana-Farber’s youngest patients by fostering creative expression and community-building to help reduce anxiety and stress.

Please join the Amazing Grace Jimmy Fund Walk Team as a walker (in-person or virtually!)- choose the distance along the Boston Marathon course (you can choose your distance: marathon, half marathon, 10K or 5K) you'd like to walk when you register, and then you'll begin fundraising!  If you cannot participate in the walk,  you can support the team by making a donation of any amount...every penny helps! Donations can be made towards a specific walker's fundraising efforts, or to the team collection...either way, you're supporting our efforts to make a difference in the world of pediatric cancer. 

So, on October 1, we will walk for Grace, we will walk for the Markos family, we will walk for the children who face cancer diagnoses each day around the world...and we will walk to DEFY cancer!!

Thank you!

xoxo

Amazing Grace Jimmy Fund Walk Team