BOSTON — Two Greenfield residents are back at it, ready to participate in the annual Jimmy Fund Walk on Sunday, Oct. 5, to help support all forms of adult and pediatric cancer care and research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Andi Guy and Janet Olander are heading to the eastern part of the state to once again raise money to fight cancer. Guy and her sister, who lives on the South Shore, will walk in the 13.1-mile half-marathon, while Olander plans to do the full marathon route. Whichever route Jimmy Fund Walk participants choose, they are supported by hundreds of volunteers and treated to refueling stations with refreshments. The walk takes place on the famed Boston Marathon course.
“It’s very, very upbeat. It’s really something,” said Guy, who makes up a team with her sister called Guys and Dolls. “The volunteers, they make it so phenomenal because they are just so encouraging. They’re giving us their day, just as the walkers give up their day.”
This will be Guy’s 13th Jimmy Fund Walk. She first learned about the event exactly six months after the death of her husband, who spent the final year of his life at Dana-Farber before he died of cancer in 2013.
“The care that he received was just so phenomenal,” she said. “It was just amazing.”
Donations can be made at tinyurl.com/JimmyFundDonate. The Jimmy Fund Walk aims to raise $9.5 million this year.
Olander said this will be her eighth year participating in the Jimmy Fund Walk and she does so because of the need for cancer research and treatment.
“Seeing so many people from all over come together for this one cause is very emotional and inspiring. It feels very good to be part of something so big,” she wrote in an email. “During the last eight years, I have had the opportunity to speak with a few people who have received care, or know someone who has received care, at Dana-Farber and they have nothing but good things to say and are very appreciative of the fundraising efforts.”
Olander mentioned that two family members and a friend have died of cancer over the past few years.
“This inspires me even more to do what I can to raise money for more research,” she wrote.
Jimmy Fund Walk participants have the flexibility to choose from four distance options — a 5K walk (from Dana-Farber’s Longwood Medical Campus), a 10K walk (from Newton), the half-marathon walk (from Wellesley) and the marathon walk (from Hopkinton). Walkers who prefer to participate virtually can complete their chosen distance from any location.
“For 36 years, the Jimmy Fund Walk has been a cornerstone of support for lifesaving cancer research and patient care at Dana-Farber,” Caitlin Fink, vice president of The Jimmy Fund, said in a statement. “Every participant contributes directly to advancing lifesaving research and critically important cancer care. Walk Day is more than just an event — it’s a celebration of hope and the shared commitment of the Jimmy Fund community.”