2013 Resolution-$28,000

Happy New Year to you, family and friends!  I hope the holiday season has been filled with a lot of laughter, joy, and peace.  The beginning of the New Year provides us all an opportunity to think about our resolutions for the coming year while reflecting on the past and hoping for the future.

One of my resolutions for 2013 is to raise $28,000 while training for and ultimately completing the Boston Marathon in April.  As many of you know, for the past four years I have run the Boston Marathon as a member of the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team in an effort to raise valuable funds for the Claudia Barr Program in Innovative Cancer Research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.  I am honored to again be a member of this successful and positive team and I would appreciate your support during this milestone year.

This run each year, and the training season that leads up to it, is quite significant and important to me.  I run in memory of my three siblings, Molly, Mary and John, who at too young an age lost their lives to cancer.  It’s a reality that is often still too difficult to really think about and absorb, especially during the holiday season when we feel the impact of their absence so greatly.  Unfortunately, there are many other families who also feel similar loss right now, and sadly, most of us will at some point in the future.  It is for Molly, Mary, and John, and all of our families, that we should join together for the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge as runners and as supporters.

The Barr Program at Dana-Farber is one of the largest and most successful research programs of its kind, funding the brightest and most creative scientists who are making discoveries that are transforming cancer treatment across all therapeutic areas.  These breakthroughs are creating real change right now, resulting in improved survival rates and better quality of life for thousands of patients all around the world.  Every penny of your gift-ONE HUNDRED PERCENT- goes directly to this program and these amazing scientists.  Your gifts are truly making an impact and the benefit for our families and friends will be far reaching.

Making a gift to the Barr Program is easy.  You can visit www.runDFMC.org/2013/jennies and follow the link to make an online contribution that goes directly to Barr Program researchers, or you can send a check made out to the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge to me at home.  

We don’t get to pick who gets cancer, nor are we able to decide who responds to treatment and who doesn’t.  It’s not a choice, and unfortunately, the challenging reality is that we all know someone whose life has been directly affected by cancer.  But we can fulfill our obligation to our families, our friends, and ourselves to keep fighting the good fight.  To accept the responsibility to generate important changes.   Together, we are making an impact and are moving towards the ultimate finish line of a world without cancer.

Thank you in advance for your generosity, kindness, and support. 

Be good.  Be strong.

With gratitude,

Jennie Firth Sheridan