Marlborough Resident Running Marathon for Dana-Farber

The following press release was submitted:

Jaimie McKean of Marlborough hosts Jaimie’s Karaoke Night Out for the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge (DFMC), a cancer research fundraiser, at the Hudson Elks, 99 Park St., Hudson, MA, as part of her 2015 Boston Marathon run on the DFMC team.

The event features a fun night out with karaoke and dancing, complimentary food, and a full cash bar. There will be opportunity drawings and silent auctions.

Tickets can be purchased in advance or at the door. All proceeds from the event support Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

McKean is one of more than 550 DFMC runners from across the country and the world who will run the 119th Boston Marathon on April 20 with a goal of raising $5.2 million for Dana-Farber. One hundred percent of the funds raised benefit Dana-Farber’s Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research, which supports cornerstone science research in its earliest stages, providing researchers with critical resources to test their cutting-edge ideas. Findings from Barr Program research can provide novel clinical insights as well as the results necessary to seek additional federal funding.

This year marks the 26th running of the DFMC. In 1990, Dana-Farber was among the first charity organizations to be recognized by the Boston Athletic Association (BAA), which organizes the Boston Marathon. Since its inception in 1990, the DFMC has raised more than $69 million for the Barr Program. Dana-Farber Trustees J. Wayne and Delores Barr Weaver founded the Barr Program in 1987 to honor Mrs. Weaver’s mother, Claudia Adams Barr, who lost her battle with cancer in 1957.
McKean lost her Dad, James J. McKean, to cancer in April 2011, so Dana-Farber’s mission is close to her heart.

McKean said: “Too many of us have watched our loved ones endure pain and suffering (and even death) from this awful disease. By participating in the DFMC, I am supporting Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s goal to find better therapies and, ultimately, cures for cancer.” This will be Ms. McKean’s first time running the Boston Marathon.

More information concerning her run can be found on her DFMC fundraising page.