Jamaica Plain Resident Running Boston Marathon in Support of Cancer Research

Editor's Note: Jamaica Plain resident Chris Child submitted the following summary about his motivations for running in the 2014 Boston Marathon to Jamaica Plain Patch.

Every year, several hundred runners participate in the Boston Marathon and raise funds for cancer research through the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge (DFMC). To date, the DFMC has raised more than $61 million. In 2014, the team aims to celebrate its 25th year by raising $5.3 million. They are well over half way towards their goal thanks to the fundraising efforts of the over seven hundred runners on this years' team.

Chris Child, a Jamaica Plain resident, will be running this year's race for the DFMC. Chris has lived in Boston for more than 10 years and works roughly two blocks away from the Marathon finish line. Chris is running the race in honor of two important people in his life. He is running in memory of his childhood friend Jeff Greene, who died in 1998 at seventeen after a four-year battle with sarcoma. He is also running in honor of his mother Joy, a breast cancer survivor. Their struggles with cancer have served as Chris' major motivation to want to fundraise for Dana-Farber and take on the physical challenge of running the Boston Marathon.

Every runner on the DFMC has a $4,000 fundraising commitment. Chris was accepted to the team in October of last year, with a personal fundraising goal of $10,000. To date he has raised more than $5,000, with many donations coming from friends and family in the Boston area.

One hundred percent of the funds raised by DFMC team members support the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Cancer Research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, which is widely recognized as one of the largest and most successful programs of its kind. Barr investigators have made numerous major breakthroughs resulting in improved survival rates and quality of life for thousands of patients everywhere.

To donate to Chris Child's efforts, visit his web page at www.runDFMC.org/2014/ChrisChild or send check donations made out to "Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge" to:

Chris Child, DFMC
326 Centre St.
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130