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.

Sunday, November 19, 2017

A Celebration of Life

Today was a tough day.  After a difficult marathon 3 weeks ago, I had hoped that today's 1/2 marathon would be a strong race.  The weather wasn't ideal (20mph winds, rain) but it wasn't awful.  I ran my 2nd fastest 1/2 at 1.53 but similar to the marathon, it was a struggle.  I didn't feel strong and labored through the whole race. I'm not sure why these 2 races have gone this way, but something I need to figure out before April arrives.
Though these races have been challenging, I kept thinking of Heather and what she (and others) have gone through in their cancer treatments.  Unfortunately, just a few days after sending my first fundraising e-mail and 2+ years of treatment, Heather lost her battle with breast cancer.  Today was the Celebration of Heather's Life and many kind words and memories were shared.  It was a nice bookend to the race where I saw a shirt that summed up this coming DFMC season.  The shirt read: To run a marathon for oneself is an accomplishment, but to run in honor of another is a gift.  It is gift to run Boston in 2018 with DFMC in memory of Heather and others as well as in honor of RJ and others who have beaten cancer.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)