About Me

My Goal: Run the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2019 with the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge. Raise $17,000 (or more!) where 100% of funds raised benefit the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research. I run in honor of my friend Chris Davie who is battling brain cancer. I also run in honor for my friend RJ and his continued cancer-free life, in memory of Heather Thomson, and for other family and friends who are or have battled cancer. Together we can help Dana-Farber Cancer Institute reach the ultimate finish line: a world without cancer

Barr Program Impact Statements

Barr Program Impact Statements

Immunotherapies: New Ways to Activate the Immune System—An important area of cancer research asks why the human body's defense systems do not always attack and destroy tumors as they form. Funded by the Claudia Adams Barr Program, Glenn Dranoff, MD, discovered complex regulatory pathways in the human immune system that cancers exploit in order to escape destruction. Reversal of these effects can lead to the development of vaccines against cancer, like Provenge for prostate cancer. This research has also enabled the development of immune-activating drugs such as ipilimumab, which showed striking effects in melanoma in a trial led by Dana-Farber scientists and is now approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Last Week Before Taper

The last week flew by, as will this one.  Since posting a week ago, another track workout occurred, another 25 sections of the Harvard Stadium was run and the 2nd-to-last group run took place at the BSC in Wellesley, MA.  The run was a good one and covered the hill section of the marathon course.  After running 9 mi of the course, we turned around and ran it in reverse.  It was a good long run and this week's group run will do the opposite...starting at BC, we'll run 11 mi of the course in reverse and turn around at the 11 mi mark to run the marathon route, hitting the Newton Hills just like on Marathon Monday.

In addition to all the running this past week, the weekend was super busy with the Patient Partner Poster Party after the group run on Sat.  All the patients in the Patient Partner Program and families in the In Memory Of program make a poster of the child who is fighting cancer or lost their battle with cancer.  These are then on display at the team dinner the night before the marathon.  While it may seem depressing or sad to see all these posters, and it is of course, it is incredibly powerful and really helps the runners and families see what an impact the DFMC experience has on all involved...the kids, the runners, the researchers and everyone who is a part of the team, including the 1000s of donors who are "behind the scenes."  RJ and I made his poster and then got to catch up and enjoy the afternoon for a bit.  We both had busy nights though.

Sunday AM was St. Patty's Day and in South Boston, we're the center of the celebration!  Amy and Kim had the 'brilliant' idea of throwing a St. Patty's Day Fundraiser for friends, which we did.  It was crazy and LOTS of food was made, but it was a great idea they hatched as over 25 friends came by and lots of money was raised for DFMC.  That said, there's no rest for the weary as Wed 3/20 is another fundraiser at the Asgard where hopefully even more people will come and more money will be raised.  Speaking of which, time to prepare for that one...
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