Dedham Runner Racing Boston Marathon to Support Sally Naser, Children's Hospital

For Anne Francis, she’ll have extra motivation as she braces for the make-or-break point of Monday’s Boston Marathon.

Francis, a Dedham resident, is running with Dedham 10-year-old Sally Naser in her heart.

Doctors diagnosed Sally in May 2010 with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer that can occur during the adolescence years.

Sally and Francis have teamed to form a patient-partner relationship for the marathon, and Francis has raised $4,307 in Sally’s name for Boston Children’s Hospital.

“Her birthday is two days after the marathon, so I’ll have ‘Happy Birthday, Sally’ on my back. She will be with my daughter Emma at the halfway point, so that will help me,” Francis said.

Faced with a $1,000 goal as a qualified runner, Francis has blown that out of the water, but wants to raise more in Sally’s name.

“I signed up on my own and was ready to run, but I thought this was silly and I thought I could do something good too,” Francis said.

Francis first met Sally last winter, before her diagnosis, and visits with her and Sally’s parents on a regular basis.

Over the course of the past few months, her daughter Emma and Sally have become good friends.

“I think for me, that was just a really nice thing to see. Sally is a regular kid. She is living life, which is just amazing,” she said.

With the extra motivation, Francis prepared for her third marathon – she ran Boston in 2009 and the Rock ‘n Roll Marathon in Arizona in 2010 – by jaunting around Dedham with Camille Naser and running the marathon route with her Children’s Hospital team.

She ran the 2009 Boston race in 4:07:00, she said.

As Francis pushes to raise as much for the hospital as she can in the final week leading to the marathon, she raised the likelihood that it could be her last marathon.

“I hope this is the last one so I can take this energy and the time to focus on something else,” she said. “I mean, I say it now […], but certainly if the [Nasers] ask, that would be something to consider.”

The nerves of running in the famed Boston Marathon though are a thing of the past for Francis.

“Because this is my third marathon, I am really excited for it, but I don’t have to prove anything,” she said. “I qualified already.”

With a qualifying time of about 3:53:00 already accomplished, Francis wants to focus on enjoying the 26.2 miles.

“When I did the first Boston, I had a really rough 17-20, so I didn’t stop. I didn’t do anything,” she said. “This one I want to stop, say hi to the Children’s people, say hi to my kids, and see my friends.”

The toughest part of the course will be the Newton Hills as runners race through Wellesley, Francis said. Once she hits Boston College on the marathon route, Francis said it should be smooth sailing for her.

“I know once I hit B.C., I can do the rest,” she said. “I know every inch of the course from there.”

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