RUNNING BOSTON FOR A CURE
APRIL 19, 2010
Dear Friends & Family,
I'm running many miles to fight cancer and I hope you'll help me take big steps! In only 5 short weeks, on Monday, April 19, 2010, I'll run with my Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge (DFMC) teammates in the Boston Marathon, raising funds to benefit the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research at the world-renowned Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. With your generosity, I’ll reach my goal of $5,000 before marathon weekend!
Cancer touches all of us. We all know someone—a friend, colleague, parent, sibling, family member, child--who has battled this disease. Today, thousands of people worldwide are being treated for cancer and this is our chance to do something to help them. In undertaking this challenge I’m honoring a very special and brave 5 year-old girl, with whom I am privileged to call my friend: Ashley Dumont.
Ashley came into the world full of energy! Happily, she's the same today, five years later. But between then and now, Ashley and her family went through terrible times when her future was anything but certain. At age two, Ashley was diagnosed with Wilms' tumor (WT), a type of kidney cancer that accounts for about 6 percent of all childhood cancers. Unfortunately for Ashley, the cancer was found in both of her kidneys. Overnight, her family's life changed dramatically. She had five tumors the size of grapefruits in her kidneys and was admitted the next day to Boston Children’s Hospital and began treatment. Her family has had to make the exhausting four-hour drive from their home in New Hampshire to the hospital for Ashley’s treatment. For three years there were four surgeries, multiple blood transfusions, hospital stays, low blood counts, infections and countless invasive tests and chemotherapy. Ashley just recently underwent follow-up scans – the kindergartener is now able to lay awake in the MRI machine for 2 hours without a nudge – a remarkable feat in and of itself (and something most adults would be hard-pressed to accomplish!). Now, thanks to research, she is finally in the clear and celebrating her good health!I can think of no better way to honor Ashley than to raise funds for the vital efforts of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. One hundred percent of the funds raised will support the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research at Dana-Farber and will provide support to help improve the chances of cancer survivors like Ashley. I hope you will support my challenge by giving a gift to my run and, in so doing, help bring an end to cancer.
To make an online gift visit my donation page at: www.RunDFMC.org/2010/sarahc - it’s fast, easy and secure! Or enclose a check payable to “Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge” and addressed to me. Will your company match your gift? If so, please include its matching gift form with your contribution.
Please join me in my race toward the ultimate finish line: a world without cancer. Every mile and every dollar brings us closer! Thank you in advance for supporting my run for DFMC.
Best regards,
Sarah
~ 109 Lowell Rd., Unit 313, N. Reading, MA 01864 ~
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