Please help me support Boston Children’s Hospital in the fight to save lives through groundbreaking childhood cancer research.

For the last three years, I have signed up to run the Boston Marathon for Boston Children's Hospital 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 in his memory again and to help fund the Eoghan Homan Pediatric Cancer Research Fund - a Boston Children’s Hospital’s research program into treatment for pediatric cancers, including Ewing Sarcoma and Neuroblastomas. 

To create an added (and hopefully even more donation worthy) challenge, in addition to tackling the Boston Marathon on April 20, 2026, I will also be attempting to run the London Marathon the following weekend (April 26, 2026) with my daughter Aisling who will also be running for Boston Children's Hospital (despite never having run even a 5K before this past August) and following this madness with the Cape Town marathon on May 24, 2026. That will be 3 World Marathon Majors in the space of just 5 weeks!

The support received over the past three years has helped to raise over $275,000. In a world where federal funding is now so uncertain, these funds are more important than ever. Rare cancers like the one Eoghan suffered from receive practically no research funding and the first line treatment for it has not changed in the past 40 years. Let’s change that.

Last year’s funds raised helped to open an ongoing clinical trial of a new form of immunotherapy for children with relapsed neuroblastoma, providing a new option against an aggressive cancer. But there’s still so much work to do. The team at the Hospital would like to use funds raised this year to further two trials of particular interest:

 1. A clinical trial of a novel chemotherapy combination for patients with relapsed Ewing sarcoma that they think will improve tumor response and quality of life for these patients. BCH is the lead center for this trial and they are planning to open this at other pediatric sarcoma centers to complete the trial more quickly, but that requires additional resources; and

2. Clinical trial of a new form of immunotherapy for patients with relapsed Ewing sarcoma. BCH hopes to be one of the first centers to be able to offer this clinical trial for its patients and having a research coordinator dedicated to Ewing sarcoma clinical trials will help to do this.

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.

Please support me, and support the hospital to continue making the difference to countless children’s lives. Every dollar raised will fund research that will give kids better treatments, hope, and the chance to live longer, healthier lives. You can create a brighter future today by donating now. Will you please support me?

Every action, no matter the size, brings us closer to a world where no child is lost to cancer. Thank you for being part of this lifesaving mission. Thanks again for your support.

Colm

Aisling’s page 

https://secure.childrenshospital.org/site/TR/ActiveEvents/ActiveEvents?pg=personal&px=3126646&fr_id=2630