Take 7...lucky #7

 Happy almost Thanksgiving!  It’s the beginning of a hectic time of year, with winter knocking at doors across the country and snow literally knocking straight through some doors in upstate New York!  I’ll certainly be grateful we don’t have 60” of snow on the ground next week as we sit down to celebrate (knock on wood).  Before the chaos really kicks in, I’m writing to ask for your support of a cause that is incredibly important to me and to my family..

Thanksgiving is the time of year when I begin the training season for the Boston Marathon, and this year will mark my seventh year with the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team, and I'm more determined than ever before.   As in years past, this year has not been one without more cancer diagnoses among friends and loss of too many lives to this disease. There have been advances and new effective treatments, but the work is far from complete. I am honored to again be a member of this team, and I run alongside so many others whose lives have also been impacted by cancer.  Many of my teammates are survivors and some even current patients themselves.  Most run for family members or friends.  Others because curing cancer is their job and this is just another way to help advance the cause.  Whatever the motivation, the end goal is the same.  We run to provide incredibly gifted scientists the opportunity to make amazing advances in diverse areas of cancer research.

My primary motivation for running is my family.  I run in memory of my three siblings, Molly, Mary,  And I run for the rest of my family who have been  forever altered as a result.  Every day I miss Molly, Mary and John.  Every single day there’s a moment when I would have laughed with John about the ridiculous notion that we’d have a dog or commiserated with Molly about raising a teenager or joked with Mary about the ridiculous reality TV “personality” filling up the news.  I expected to have these moments with them: the summers at the beach, the Christmas holidays, the graduations and text messages and email jokes.  While that void cannot be filled, it is lessened by knowing that I work to change the future of cancer in their memories.

and John, who as young adults lost their lives to cancer.

The funds raised by the DFMC team support research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, one of the top cancer centers in the county.  Every cent of your gift – a full 100 percent- goes directly to funding research through the Claudia Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research at Dana-Farber, widely recognized as one of the most successful programs of its kind.  Based on a rigorous and highly selective process, the Barr Program funds the brightest scientists making basic research discoveries that are transforming cancer treatment.  This incredible work is resulting in improved survival rates and quality of life for thousands of patients everywhere, and your support will go directly to continue this mission.

My personal goal this year is $1,000 per mile of a marathon ($26,200) and I would be incredibly grateful for your support.  Making an online gift is quick, safe and easy.  You can visit my webpage at http://www.runDFMC.org/2015/jennies to make a contribution.  If you would prefer, you can also send a check payable to the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge to me at: Jennie Sheridan, 23 Glendale Rd., Marblehead, MA  01945.  In all honestly, I am able to run again for the 7^th year because of the generosity of so many of you over the past years.  I not only run for Molly, Mary, and John but for all of our family and friends who have been diagnosed with cancer.  Please let me know

if there is someone for whom you would like me to run.  I wear the names of our family and friends on my shirt on the road from Hopkinton to Boston each year, and while sadly the list continues to grow, they are the wind at my back and carry me across the miles.

Each of the past six years, the backing that has been shown for my participation on the DFMC team has just remarkable, and I send my sincerest gratitude for your kindness and generosity to help me reach my goal. It’s difficult to write to you year after year, but the goal remains the same:  find a cure for cancer.  I continue to be thankful for this opportunity to be a part of this group that is leading the charge.  Your support means a great deal to our entire family. 

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

Be good. Be strong.

With gratitude,

Jennie