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Dear Friends and Family,
I am writing to tell you about a challenge I have recently taken on for the second time and I was hoping you would help me succeed in its completion.
On April 16th, 2018, I will be running the Boston Marathon for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. This will be a very demanding commitment on a physical, mental, and emotional scale. However, I have come to understand a reason that makes this challenge worthwhile.
My story begins in October 2006, when my mother Kathleen Murphy was diagnosed with breast cancer. After undergoing a myriad of treatments, including a mastectomy and reconstruction, she was declared by her doctors, cancer free. However, in May of 2009 the cancer had returned. Unfortunately, it had spread to her liver and bones, and after further intensive treatment her doctors came to the conclusion that no more could be done for her but to ease her pain. In October of 2010, she was told that she only had between six and nine months to live. Unfortunately, that estimate was cut severely short when she passed away on November 3rd, 2010.
Though she has been gone for seven years now, losing a mother at a young age has had a lasting impact on me and my entire family. It was and still is devastating knowing that my mother will not be physically present for the most important events of my life such as running my first and second Boston marathons, marriage and my college graduation this June. Her absence creates a hole in the lives of my family that can never be filled. Though my family and I have suffered this devastating loss, our mother passing has empowered us to fight back against a disease that takes the lives of 7.6 million people across the globe every year. My mother would never have wanted me to run the Boston Marathon purely in her memory. She was a selfless person in every sense of the word and would want me to run for all cancer patients, survivors, and victims.
We all know that a diagnosis of cancer means many lives affected, many lives disrupted, and all too often, lives lost. I want to be a part of a world without cancer and for this reason, I am running the Boston Marathon on April 16th, 2018 to raise money for the Dana Farber Cancer Research Institute in Boston. My plea is for your help in reaching my $10,000 goal!! This amount would surpass the $8,000 that I raised in 2016.
100% of the money raised goes towards the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research which benefits hospitals and cancer patients on a global scale. If you’d like to know more about this program you can go to www.rundfmc.org and select “DFMC dollars in action” from the quick links at the left. I am required to raise a minimum of $5000.00, and when I say “required” I mean that when they promised me a place in the marathon I promised them $5000 by giving them my debit card information! As I mentioned before, my personal goal is to raise $10,000 and I truly believe that I can do it with the help and support of awesome people like you!!
Help the Murphys’ Dropkick Cancer once and for all!
I hope this letter finds you and yours healthy and happy and we wish you all the best in 2018!!
Many Thanks,
Kaylene Murphy
