Friends,
I’m thrilled to be joining Boston Children’s Hospital - Miles for Miracles team participating in the 2024 Boston Marathon.
Impassioned by running and having grown up attending the marathon many Patriots Days, I am beyond excited to step off the sidewalk. I will be running the 2024 Boston Marathon on behalf of my nieces Lily (13) and Elise (11) who help embody the spirit of all patients, parents, providers and professionals known to Boston Children’s Hospital.
My family’s relationship with Boston Children’s began in 2011 when my niece's missed developmental milestones turned into years of specialist appointments, therapies, and genetic testing. Challenges and successes. Grief and joy. Thanks to the determination and persistent efforts of the hospital's Neurology and Genetics departments, the girls received a SYNGAP1 diagnosis in 2018. A rare genetic disorder known to 250 individuals at the time, SYNGAP1 is an intellectual disability caused by a gene truncation. The girls have gross motor challenges, epilepsy, and autism.
Today my nieces receive ongoing treatment from multiple specialties including neurology, genetics, gastroenterology, otolaryngology, and orthopedics. With Children's support, my family maintains a busy schedule of school, therapies, and all the usual hallmarks of childhood like sports, swimming, friendships, and travel. Our lives are full of love, joy, and optimism, despite the challenges faced in the activities of everyday life.
I am deeply grateful for the efforts of Boston Children’s but am mindful of those far less fortunate. Every dollar I raise funds the very best medical care, breakthrough research and vital support services for sick kids and their families. Your gift will:
- Help children from your town and across the world get a second chance at life.
- Give kids battling the most complex diseases care they can't find anywhere else.
- Fuel 3,000+ researchers working to develop new treatments and cures.
- Support patient programs, like music and art therapy, to let kids be kids, even during long hospital stays.
- Help patient families in crisis with urgent needs, such as food, clothing and housing.
- Deliver the most compassionate, leading-edge care to every child who needs it.
Please support my fundraising and help the incredible kids and families at Boston Children's Hospital.