When it comes to lifelong friends we are quit fortunate. We were raised in a wonderful community, one where we still know friends dating back as far as kindergarten, still see them when we visit our hometown and still support each other in our endeavors years later.
One such friend is Amber, who we’ve known since elementary school. She reached out last fall to tell us that she had earned a prestigious spot in the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge to benefit the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research. She’s gearing up to run the Boston Marathon and bring awareness to this important cause.
This is relevant to us for many reasons. For starters, we ran with Amber on our high school track team and always had a bond for our friendship and running from there. Over the years, we’ve seen each other and asked about how much we’re running and if we’re doing events, and other times our conversations have been focused on other aspects of our lives. With both of our mothers having been diagnosed with breast cancer, she’s been a supporter of our business and, like us, hopeful for progress in cancer research with our own fears of genetic factors and cancer risks in our minds. Her husband is also a cancer survivor, which makes this effort even more important for her, with the fundraising dollars helping to fuel cancer research.
As Amber gets closer to running the marathon, we’re working together to create awareness of what she’s doing, to fundraise for the benefit of cancer research and to show our shared commitment to transforming cancer treatment.
The easiest way to support Amber and cancer research is to donate to her fundraising campaign on her page, where you can also see her story, recent runs and amount raised so far.
Amber never ceases to amaze us, as someone who works in the world of science and also brings so much creativity to life, which you can see in how she’s come up with thoughtful ways to reach her fundraising goal. While many people were already generous in her Super Bowl Square Competition—including all the winners who donated their winnings—she is focused on some other goals:
Sponsor an In Memory or In Honor of Name
Amber is also offering an opportunity for people to do a personal sponsorship for her race—for a $50 donation, you can send the name of a person she will run in memory of or in honor of and that name will appear on her singlet as she runs the race. When donating your $50 to sponsor someone on her page, comment "in honor of" or "in memory of" with the individual's name for her to include.
Represent Your State!
Amber is hoping to get a donation from all 50 states. As we publish this, she’s received donations from people in 24 states (represented in pink on the map below), and we would love to see donations from across the country to complete this goal!
Throughout her training, Amber is posting on social media, running bingo games at her work with prizes and setting up other drawings, which we will promote on our social media page to keep everyone posted on her progress.
We also encourage you to get to know the amazing work done as a part of the Dana-Farber program. Along with research in breast cancers (including one researcher who studied the relationship between the BRCA1 gene and unusual DNA structures), some of the innovative program advancements have been in the following areas:
- Blood Cancers
- Brain Cancers
- Cancer Biology
- Cancer Genetics
- Immunotherapies
- Lung Cancer
- Ovarian Cancer
- Pancreatic Cancer
- Pediatric Cancers
- Precision Medicine
- Prevention
As a company, heart&core is working with Amber along the way, helping her promote her training, helping her reach out to supporters, and providing gear to wear during training and competing, along with a financial contribution to her fundraiser. This challenge will give 100 percent of funds to the Dana-Farber Program. Together, we’re committed to the final program goal to “enable scientists at the leading edge of discovery to achieve better cure rates and to enhance patients' quality of life.”
Amber will run the Boston Marathon on April 21—just over a month away We encourage you to support her on this important journey and thank you to our community for encouraging us as we work to support women who are recovering from breast cancer related surgeries and procedures with our post-surgical bras.