Members of the UMass ALS Cellucci Fund Boston Marathon team say they will hold loved ones who have fought the disease close to their hearts on April 15, when they run 26.2 miles to support amyotrophic lateral sclerosis research underway at UMass Medical School.
“My father was diagnosed with ALS in 2007, and 13 months later ALS had taken him,” said Dan Leone, of Brighton, in a new Voices of UMassMed podcast. “My father is actually buried at the Newton cemetery, which in on Heartbreak Hill. Every time I train on that hill, I just imagine that he’s on the top. At least in my head I think he’s at the top pulling me up the hill.”
Julie Bowditch, of Shrewsbury, works at UMass Medical School and has been a part of the fundraising efforts in the past. But her link to ALS changed after last year’s marathon.
“It became very personal for me,” she explained. “I received a text from my father that my uncle had been formally diagnosed with ALS. So, my connection with ALS and the Cellucci Fund became a lot stronger.”
They are two of five runners who are supporting the UMass ALS Cellucci Fund. Jan Cellucci, whose late husband Paul Cellucci, the former governor of Massachusetts, is the namesake and co-founder of the fund, talked about how he considered it his “last campaign.” The fund began in 2011 and Gov. Cellucci died from ALS in 2013.
Listen to the full podcast at https://www.umassmed.edu/news/voices. Subscribe to the podcast on SoundCloud and iTunes by searching for Voices of UMassMed. To share feedback and ideas for future episodes, e-mail the Office of Communications at UMassChanCommunications@umassmed.edu.
Learn more about and support the UMass ALS Cellucci Fund team here: https://www.crowdrise.com/o/en/campaign/umass-memorial-foundation-boston-2019/theumassmemorialfoun
