Smith Bukowski's Fundraising Page

By participating in the 2024 Boston Marathon® Jimmy Fund Walk, our team is making every step count toward the ultimate finish line: a world without cancer. Your support goes directly to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s unique balance between cutting-edge research and compassionate patient care. Smith|Bukowski also walks in support of a family member who has personally been treated by Dana Farber. Here are her words: 

“There are all kinds of anniversaries in life. Many of them are joyful, aimed at looking back at all that was accomplished to get to the here, the today. In the cancer community, your diagnosis day becomes an anniversary, one that meets these guidelines in a twisted but profound way. The time that separates you from the words that changed your life forever. Some survivors get to announce they are cancer free after treatment finishes. Others, like me, have a high rate of reoccurrence and must patiently, painfully, sit and wait. Five years was what they told me. Five years past diagnosis would be the point when they’d be confident that no cancer cells remained. The end of this year will lead me to that five year milestone, a monumental moment of-nothing. Nothing to see, nothing to fight, nothing to fix. Finally nothing is everything.

Some days I am still convinced that this will never be over, that the world will spin on and on while I forever remain rooted to the scorched spot where one diagnosis split my life in half. On those days, I try to keep my focus on all that I have gained and rebuilt these past five years. My body is different, but stronger than ever. My scars have faded from angry tallies to gentle reminders of moments survived. From certain losses has come unimaginable gifts, the most glorious of which is my daughter, joyful and perfect and free of the BRCA mutation that caused my cancer. And that’s why this year, I’m walking not just for myself, but for the doctors that got me here. The people who have to enter rooms every day with terrible news, the people who treat their patients with dignity and empathy. The people who help you face what must be done, and walk alongside you. Everyone deserves care like this. Let’s help work towards that reality.”