Help me help kids battling cancer
Last year, I signed up to run the Boston Marathon with Boston Children’s Hospital Miles for Miracles team to honor my dear 16 year old son Eoghan's battle with Ewing Sarcoma - a rare and very aggressive cancer that mainly impacts teenage children.
Tragically, Eoghan never got to see me run in Boston as he succumbed to his illness on February 23, 2023. This year, I am back to run again, looking to complete the Berlin and New York marathons together in a 5 week period, in his memory and to help fund Boston Children’s Hospital’s research program into treatment for pediatric cancers, including Ewing Sarcoma and Neuroblastomas.
During the 14 months Eoghan spent battling his cancer, our family learnt first hand about the tremendous work done at Boston Children’s Hospital. In that time, we had the support of almost every patient facing team at the hospital. You never want to be in a position where you need to have your child attend a hospital but when you are in need, you want one where they will treat you like a member of their own family.
Only 4% of all federal funding for cancer research in the US and 2% in the UK goes towards researching childhood cancers. Rare cancers like the one Eoghan suffered from receive practically no research funding and the first line treatment for it has hardly changed at all in the past 40 years.
The funds raised from my running of the marathon in the past two years have been critical for the team at Boston Children's Hospital to be able to expand their portfolio of clinical trial options. With this support, the Hospital has been able to dedicate a specific clinical research coordinator effort to two clinical trials of newer targeted therapies for Ewing sarcoma. These funds also help the Hospital to launch a new Ewing sarcoma trial of a long-acting chemotherapy that they hope will be more effective than conventional treatment. They will also be opening a new clinical trial evaluating a better way of administering a targeted therapy for neuroblastoma that they feel will be better tolerated by patients. These funds raised are helping to get this trial open as well so it really is making a difference.
Please support me, and support the hospital to continue making the difference to countless children’s lives. Every dollar raised is sorely needed and really matters. Please make a gift today.
