I am running the 2024 NYC Marathon for Boston Children’s Hospital with Team Bella.

To say that the doctors and staff at BCH have changed my life would be an understatement. In highschool, I was diagnosed with moderate Crohns Disease and for much of highschool I was able to manage it. However upon coming to Boston, under the stresses and pressures of my new college transition, my illness flared up. My doctors in Pittsburgh recommended me to Boston Children’s Hospital for new treatments. I began receiving my infusions in Boston in the Fall of 2021.

But with the gift of my treatments and monthly visits to BCH and the CATCR, has also come the profound gift of perspective. Each monthly visit, I see children who have spent so much of their young lives within the walls of the hospital. And even in the midst of their own personal battles, hardships that most adults can’t even begin to fathom, the patients are filled with such special grace and strength.

Patients like my Patient Partner, Bella, have become my superheroes. Bella has been a lifelong patient at Boston Children’s Hospital with over 500 inpatient days since birth and has been in the OR 50 times for many medical procedures.Bella has a rare genetic disorder called Xia-Gibbs syndrome. She is one in 126 million with this diagnosis. She is the strongest girl I know and I feel so grateful and honored to be able to run the marathon for #TeamBella. Bella lives life to the fullest and find joy all around her. She loves going out to eat and going on adventures with her mother, Marlene! We should all try to be more like Bella- loving, kind, caring, are just a few of the words to describe her.

Your donation will help ensure that patients like Bella have access to life-saving care and that their families are supported throughout their hospital stay.

Every dollar I raise funds breakthrough research, family support services, and vital care not covered by insurance through the hospital’s Every Child Fund. Your gift will:

• give children battling the most complex diseases treatments they can’t find anywhere else;
• help children in your town and across the world get a second chance;
• fuel 3,000+ researchers working to find cures;
• help patient-families in crisis with urgent needs, including housing, food and clothing;
• and so much more.

 Please support my fundraising—and help the children and families at Boston Children’s and beyond.