NAITIK SHAH
AN INTERNATIONAL MARATHONER KNOWS FIRSTHAND THAT CANCER DOESN’T DISCRIMINATE. HE’S ON A QUEST TO LIVE IN “A WORLD WITHOUT CANCER.”
When Naitik Shah, 41, is running the seemingly unending hills of the Boston Marathon course, he repeats a mantra to himself: “Be happy, be kind, and keep smiling.” His best friend, Kushal Amin, said this phrase to him and Shah’s mother, Rekha, many times when Kushal and Rekha were both fighting cancer in their hometown of Mumbai, India.
“He was the most optimistic person,” Shah recalls of his friend, who passed away at age 38 in December 2017 from glioblastoma. Shah would travel from Boston to Mumbai frequently when Amin and his mother were both in treatment. “He used to come quite o en to motivate my mom when I was there, and even when I was not there.”
His mother? “By nature, she was a pessimist.” She couldn’t completely get behind Amin’s go-to saying, Shah recalls. But when he spoke to her on the phone for what ended up being the final time before she died from multiple myeloma in May 2017, she ended their call with Amin’s mantra: “Be happy, be kind, and keep smiling.”
“So when we go up and down those hills,” Shah says, “I just try and keep smiling. It’s nothing compared to what impact cancer patients go through during treatment.”
Shah grew up playing football
(or, soccer, as it’s called here in the US) and came to Boston to attend Northeastern University in 2004. He started running for fun around the Charles River, but never intended to do marathons. He did some shorter races, and eventually got involved with the Boston Athletic Association by volunteering at the Marathon Expo to stuff and distribute bibs and help participants pick out gear at the store.
Through that experience, which he continues to do annually, Shah met numerous athletes representing various cancer charities, and got introduced to Dana-Farber
Cancer Institute and its mission to transform cancer treatment all over the world. He was inspired to give the marathon a go. “I thought that if I represented this charity, my mom and Amin would be really proud of me,” he says.
Shah fully intended to be one and done with his first Boston Marathon. But by running with the DanaFarber Marathon Challenge team, he became even more inspired. In addition to Boston, he’s now run marathons in New York, Berlin, London, Tokyo, and in October, he’ll also run Chicago for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
In 2022, Shah met Chase Settelen and his mom, Kim, through the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge Patient Partner Program, which matches runners with children currently being treated at the Jimmy Fund Clinic for mutual support throughout the year. Chase was diagnosed with a form of lymphoma at age 2, is now 5 and currently in remission. Thanks to innovative cancer research like what’s being done at Dana-Farber, the survival rate for Chase’s type of cancer has increased by 50 percent in the past few decades.
“Until we have breakthroughs in cancer treatments and a cure, I will keep going,” Shah says. And he’ll keep smiling.
Until we have breakthroughs in cancer treatments and a cure, I will keep going.”
When the athletes take their places on the starting line on the morning of April 15 to run in the 128th Boston Marathon, some of them will be running for more than personal glory. Among the 30,000 participants lining up, more than 2,600 will be running to raise money for charity.
Some will be running to honor a family member or to celebrate surviving an illness. Others will be running simply to make a difference in their community. You can read the inspiring personal stories of 12 such runners throughout this issue. These athletes will be part of a tradition of charity at the Boston Marathon that goes back decades.
It started with a phone call
Nearly a century a er the first running of the Boston Marathon, a single phone call altered the race forever. The year was 1989 and, at that time, the marathon was reserved for qualifying athletes only. That changed when a representative from the nonprofit American Liver Foundation called the Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.), which has organized the event since its founding, and made a request: That the B.A.A. consider setting aside some entries for individuals who didn’t qualify for the marathon if the participants agreed to raise money for the American Liver Foundation.
“The official charity program was born, and that very first year athletes raised $6,600 for the American Liver Foundation,” says Nicole Juri, director of development
The Boston Marathon is iconic, and it means a lot to be running in the city where I’ve put down roots and lived for the past 10 years.” SARAH JUTEAU
at the B.A.A..
Since that first fundraising year, the marathon has raised an astounding $500.2 million for a number of different causes as its charity program has expanded.
Last year, a record $40.3 million was raised and the goal this year — the inaugural year of the Bank of America Boston Marathon Official Charity Program — is to raise $50 million.
“It’s a really significant amount of funds that have been put back into the community to do amazing things by nonprofit organizations,” Juri says.
The B.A.A. caps the number of charity-related entries (called waivers) each year and nonprofits can apply to receive some of the waivers through an open application process. A committee selects the nonprofit organizations and allocates the entries annually. This year, 168 charities were chosen, up from 163 last year.
While the B.A.A. selects the nonprofit organizations and allocates the number of waivers, the nonprofits themselves select the members to join their teams. Each athlete must pledge to raise a minimum of $5,000, though many set higher goals. Last year, the average amount raised per athlete was more than $12,000, according to Juri. She notes that many athletes who qualify for the Boston Marathon outright also choose to fundraise, either for a B.A.A.-selected charity or another nonprofit they are connected with.
Sister power
This is the first year Big Sister Boston, a mentoring program for girls and young women and part of the Big Sister/
Big Brother national network, will be participating as an official Boston Marathon charity team. The organization, which matches girls ages 7 to 15 with Big Sister mentors, serves roughly 2,500 girls and young women in 69 towns in Greater Boston.
Annissa Essaibi George, Big Sister
Boston president and CEO, is excited about the opportunities to fundraise and engage with the community on the larger scale that being a part of the Boston Marathon offers.
“We’re a little bit of an institution,” says Essaibi George of the 72-year-old organization. “We do good work. And the Boston Marathon obviously is an institution and an important part of our city’s history. We think it’s great to be able to participate and benefit from the marathon.”
Among those joining the Big Sister Boston team is Sarah Juteau, 34, of Milton. An avid runner on and off since high
school, Juteau ran her first marathon in October in her hometown of Chicago.
“The Boston Marathon is iconic, and it means a lot to be running in the city where I’ve put down roots and lived for the past 10 years,” Juteau says.
Juteau is running for Big Sister Boston because its mission resonates with her. “I strongly believe in the importance of mentorship, specifically for young girls,” she says. “Investing in them at a young age, when their confidence levels o en dip, is important, to offer them that extra support.” While she hopes her run will bring attention to the organization, Juteau emphasizes that she’s also running to show the little sisters that someone “normal” like her can run the Boston Marathon even with its reputation for being tough.
“They can select a goal, whether it’s to run a marathon or tackle something that seems scary or intimidating, and they can do it too,”
Juteau says.
Noting that Big Sister Boston has 170 girls waiting to be matched with a big sister, Essaibi George says the money raised will go toward serving more girls and expanding the organization’s various programs.
Mass appeal
In 1998, Massachusetts General Hospital joined the charity program with a team of 10 — and it’s fielded a charity team ever since. That first year they raised $46,000. In 2023, they raised $1.8 million.
Despite its size, the recruitment process for the Mass General team is highly selective, says Amy Doherty, director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Marathon Program.
“We’re looking for the right people who have a strong connection to our organization,” says Doherty, who has run the marathon twice herself. “We’ve had former cancer patients participate [who are] running in support of the hospital that essentially saved their lives. So it’s really a heartwarming emotional experience for everyone involved.”
The waivers received this year are earmarked for three signature programs at Mass General: pediatric cancer, emergency response, and Home Base, which supports veterans. Participants apply to fundraise for a specific program and must commit to raising a minimum of $7,500.
In the Department of Emergency Medicine, the marathon supports community outreach initiatives for underserved patient populations, expands coverage for critical care education and funds groundbreaking research. Home
Base provides care and treatment of veterans’ invisible wounds (mostly mental health), with this year’s marathon donations providing free clinical care to over 3,000 veterans, service members, and
their families.
Quyen Nguyen, a 44-year-old mother of three teenagers, is running to raise at least $12,500 for Mass General’s Pediatric Cancer Center.
“I am not really a runner. I just decided to do this on a whim,” says Nguyen, who has never run a marathon before.
And she’s doing it for a very personal reason. In July 2022, her husband, Scott, was diagnosed with stage 3 stomach cancer at the age of 48. The two visited leading cancer care facilities across the country and chose Mass General for Scott’s treatment. A er undergoing surgery that appeared to be successful in January 2023, Scott’s health declined rapidly and he passed away in March. Nguyen is effusive in describing the exceptional care her husband and her whole family received at Mass General.
She recalls with gratitude and amazement that when Scott was nearing the end, his oncologist offered to contact family members on Nguyen’s behalf.
Nguyen is running for the childhood cancer program at the Mass General for Children, she explains, because (like stomach cancer) pediatric cancer research is severely underfunded federally. The program relies on philanthropy for almost 30 percent of its funding, according to Amy Doherty. “Marathon donations help fund clinical and psycho-social care for children with cancer for children with cancer,” she says, noting that young patients come from all over the world to receive treatment.
Crossing the finish line
Though the revered Boston Marathon course is notoriously difficult, this mammoth undertaking has an equally sized impact — one that stretches well beyond the marathon route, the state, and the region — and continues to drive charity marathoners to this day.
“I’ve run marathons myself. It’s hard work,” says Nicole Juri. “It is not something that one takes on lightly. And I think for your average person who might be participating in a marathon for the first and potentially the only time, having your run have extra meaning helps get them to the finish line.”
We’re looking for the right people who have a strong connection to our organization.” AMY DOHERTY, Director, Massachusetts General Hospital Marathon Program