Milton Residents Run Boston Marathon to Raise Money for Dana Farber Cancer Institute

From Dana Farber Cancer Institute: On April 17, Milton residents are running to conquer cancer as a member of the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team in the 121st Boston Marathon®. Residents include:

• Heather Bergin
• Matt Bergin
• Katie Crowell
• Rob McKenna
• Brian Mullaney
• Michael O’Hanlon
• George Sakellaris
• Hannah Shepard

Along with more than 500 Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge teammates from across the United States and around the world, they will run Massachusetts’ historic marathon route from Hopkinton to Boston to collectively raise $5 million for cancer research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

This year marks the 28th annual running of the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge (DFMC) team. One hundred percent of the money raised by the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge goes to Dana-Farber’s Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research, which supports promising scientific research in its earliest stages. The Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge has raised more than $80 million for the Barr Program to date.

In 1990, Dana-Farber was among the first charity organizations to be recognized by the Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A), which organizes the Boston Marathon. The Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team offers its members extensive fundraising support, training guidance from 1976 Boston Marathon men’s champion Jack Fultz, and team training runs, plus volunteer opportunities for non-runners. Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge runners who are not time-qualified for the Boston Marathon receive an invitational entry into the race.

Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge runners include cancer survivors and patients, and family and friends of those who have been affected by cancer. Each team member must fulfill a basic fundraising commitment:

• Invitational runners receive their entry from Dana-Farber and have a fundraising commitment of $5,000.
• Own entry runners join the DFMC team after obtaining their own race entry and have a fundraising commitment of $4,000.

A cornerstone of the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge is its Partner Program. Each year, approximately 50 current and former pediatric cancer patients of Dana-Farber’s Jimmy Fund Clinic are paired with DFMC runners as “Patient Partners.” For the young patients, their partnerships with the runners provide a unique and friendly focus outside their illnesses. Another two dozen Patient Partner Program families are paired with runners through the “In-Memory Program” in remembrance of their children’s brave struggle with the disease.

To contribute to the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge or support a runner, visit RunDFMC.org or contact the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge office at (617) 632-1970 or dfmc@dfci.harvard.edu. Follow DFMC on Facebook: www.facebook/marathonchallenge. On Twitter: #RunDFMC

Dana-Farber’s Claudia Adams Barr Program

Since its inception in 1990, the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge has raised more than $80 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 30 years earlier.

About Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

From achieving the first remissions in cancer with chemotherapy in 1948, to developing the very latest new therapies, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is one of the world’s leading centers of cancer research and treatment. It is the only center ranked in the top 4 of U.S. News and World Report’s Best Hospitals for both adult and pediatric cancer care.

Dana-Farber sits at the center of a wide range of collaborative efforts to reduce the burden of cancer through scientific inquiry, clinical care, education, community engagement, and advocacy. Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center provides the latest in cancer care for adults; Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center for children. The Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center unites the cancer research efforts of five Harvard academic medical centers and two graduate schools, while Dana-Farber Community Cancer Care provides high quality cancer treatment in communities outside Boston’s Longwood Medical Area.

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