SARAH BURKE

THIS BRAINTREE FIELD HOCKEY COACH HAS BEEN DEEPLY AFFECTED BY CANCER IN HER FAMILY. THIS YEAR, SHE RUNS TO GIVE BACK TO A HANDS-ON CHARITY.

Sarah Burke, 24, was only 8 years old when her mother, Evanne, got sick with breast cancer. Her sister, Elizabeth, was 9, and the girls were middle schoolers in Braintree, Mass., when Evanne passed away in 2012. It was traumatic, Burke says, and it took her years to open up about the ordeal. But during those scary four years of her mother’s illness, “my parents made our childhood the most normal that they could,” Burke recalls.

That’s thanks, in large part, to the Ellie Fund. The Needham-based organization helps breast cancer patients — and their loved ones — with everyday needs, like gi cards to Stop & Shop and transportation services. Burke recalls the Ellie Fund even set her mother up with Reiki sessions, a palliative therapy which can bring comfort to cancer patients.

“It’s so important to have that type of support, and I can’t stress that enough. They supported not only my mom and dad, but they also supported my family,” Burke says.

When Burke was at Framingham State University, where she was captain of the field hockey team, her coach, Allie Lucenta, was fundraising and training to run the Boston Marathon. Lucenta’s efforts inspired Burke to give it a whirl for the 2022 race.

She contacted the Ellie Fund, but the small organization only has so many bibs to give out, Burke says, and she didn’t make the team that year. So she joined the Boston Children’s Hospital team, Miles for Miracles, in honor of a little boy named Eli Blumberg, whom Burke had taught at the Magic Years Nursery Camp in Braintree. Eli was just 6 years old when he died of a brain tumor.

“It’s unfortunate, but I have lost a lot of important people in my life to different types of cancer,” Burke says. So it’s become a life goal for her to run marathons for various charities in honor of them all. “When it comes to running for a purpose, it really creates a passion for me,” she says.

That’s why on Patriots’ Day in 2023, when Burke was on vacation in sunny Florida and the marathon was underway, “I emailed the Ellie Fund to get on their waitlist for this year’s,” Burke says, laughing at her own eagerness. “I was like, I have to be on the team.”

It will be 12 years this May since Burke lost her mother. As difficult as it’s been without her, Burke is honored to share her family’s story through her fundraising and race, and to give back to the organization that supported them. “It really helps me as a person, too. Like, I wish I could give every [Ellie Fund] family a hug,” she says.

When it comes to running for a purpose, it really creates a passion for me.”