Additionally, while training for the marathon, my family helped me raise over $16,000 for the Cancer Center at Beth Israel, which will work to improve the treatment experience and continue researching for a cure. Over the past year, I’ve worked with the development team at BIDMC to install mural ceiling tiles above the patient’s beds in the Oncology. After she passed away, my sister and I raised $10,000 to fund a “Paint the Ceilings” project in Achoo’s memory. One afternoon when I was visiting Achoo during her treatment, she lamented how drab the hospital ceilings were, and remarked how much better it would be for frightened patients to have something to look at during their visits. My maternal grandmother (whom we called “Achoo” for her particularly resounding sneeze) was a longtime patient at Beth Israel Hospital, whose Boston Marathon team I’m now proudly running with. This year, I decided to attack these two fears by conquering one, and contributing everything I could to eradicate the other. I realize now that I wasn’t actually afraid of running, but afraid of leaving my comfort zone and challenging myself in a new way. My mom tried repeatedly to have me tested for asthma and succeeded when I eventually was prescribed an inhaler to mitigate the issue. I played goalie in every sport to avoid running drills, and occasionally would fake a knee injury to elude the timed mile.
It started in elementary school when I’d hide in the air-conditioned library rather than play tag on the playground (I’ve always hated sweating), and it only got worse during middle school soccer tryouts when I could barely complete two laps around the field. The worst is knowing that some kinds of cancer are not only difficult to detect but difficult to cure.įor most of my life, I was afraid of running. The thought of losing anyone else I love to this horrific disease is not only difficult to talk about but it keeps me awake at night. Last year, my wonderful cousin died of melanoma, at the age of twenty-two. When I was in eighth grade, both of my grandmothers died of cancer within two months of each other. Everyone has their own story about why they run.
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