I am running in the 2024 Boston Marathon with Dana Farber for my brother John.
I was very close to my brother John. We worked together at his sub and pizza shop. We were always together, and he was my next older brother. I come from a big family, with 7 kids. I was closest to John and my younger brother, Wayne. John got the cancer diagnoses in 2006 that he had just a couple months to live, but he chose to fight and lived every moment to the fullest. His positive attitude pushed those 2 months to 7 months. John surrounded himself with positive friends and in those last months, his house was full of those helping him to get the most of precious time that remained. When the call came, I got a huge shock. It wasn’t for John; it was for my younger brother Wayne who had passed from a heart attack. Just five weeks later the call came for John. In a short time, I lost both of my closest brothers.
John is my motivation. I want to run the Boston Marathon for him, in his memory and to celebrate his positive attitude and will to fight in the face of his diagnosis. Even better, I’ll be running with my nephew Mike. Mike is doing do this event to raise awareness against drunk driving for his sister Christine. She was taken from us because of a drunk driver. We are both running for these causes because we are mad as hell and will not sit still waiting for the next person to be taken from us. I will kick cancer’s butt every inch of those 26.2 miles. I have an aggressive fund-raising goal for this event because I want to send the message to cancer that its time is nearing an end. My fundraising will help make that happen. Mike and I have been planning to partner for this run for many years and now is the time for us to make this dream a reality, and to honor John and Christine.
In 2024, hundreds of Dana-Farber runners will take to the streets to participate in the 128th Boston Marathon®. The Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team runs and raises funds with thousands of special people in mind. From Hopkinton to Boston, we carry thoughts of those people every step of the way.
One hundred percent of every dollar raised by the DFMC team supports the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. These funds are fueling some of today's most promising basic cancer research.
Thank you for your support! Together, we're headed toward the ultimate finish line: a world without cancer.
