UMass Cancer Walk and Run draws 7,000 for 20th anniversary event

October 2018

More than 7,000 people flocked to Worcester on Sunday, Sept. 30, 2018, to celebrate the 20th anniversary UMass Cancer Walk & Run. This year’s event raised nearly $650,000, the largest amount raised in eight years.

Team Absolute Machinery hit a lifetime fundraising total of $100,000. Allie’s Warriors raised nearly $27,000, exceeding their goal of $20,000. That is the most a team has raised for this event in the past five years. Since its inception, the race has drawn more than $12 million for cancer research. All proceeds support adult and pediatric cancer research and clinical trials of potentially lifesaving therapies for residents of the region.

As the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported, the walk was the vision of Dottie Manning of Marlborough and Bob Haynes, a Manning family friend. In 1994, Manning and her husband, Dan, lost their son, Danny Jr., to complications of leukemia. Two years later, Dan Manning Sr. died from esophageal cancer. Dottie and Bob decided to create a community event aimed at giving cancer patients a better fighting chance.

“Everybody has a Danny—someone we need to be fighting for. It is my way of honoring him and the life we had,” Manning said in an interview with the T&G.

Jani Mullaly, of Blackstone, participated in the walk for the 19th year in a row to honor her mother and father who both died from cancer.

In an interview with WCVB-TV’s Emily Riemer, Mullaly explained that she comes back year after year to help raise whatever she can for cancer research. So far, she has raised about $19,000.

Mullaly emphasized that whether people donate $10 or $100, it all adds up in the end to make a difference.

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