April 13, 2001

The Boston Marathon has long held mythical status around the world as a pinnacle of athletic accomplishment. Participants run for a variety of reasons: a physical challenge, a mental test of endurance or simply a quest for personal satisfaction. Yet for some MGHers, the marathon represents an opportunity of a different sort — the chance to run on behalf of those who can't.

Dozens of MGH employees will run in the 105th Boston Marathon April 16, many raising funds for their own charitable causes. For example, this year marks the debut of the MassGeneral Hospital Marathon Team for Cystic Fibrosis, which will have five runners participating. The MassGeneral Marathon Team "Fighting Kids' Cancer ... One Step at a Time," however, has united its members to run for a special group within MassGeneral Hospital for Children — pediatric oncology patients.

Howard Weinstein, MD, chief of Pediatric Hematology/ Oncology at MassGeneral Hospital for Children, founded the team in 1998. Today, the group boasts more than 70 members, and has set a fundraising goal of $400,000 — all of which will go toward the fight to cure childhood cancer. The team — consisting of MGH physicians, nurses, staff, patients, their families and friends — will continue a special tradition this year: more than 50 members will run in honor of MassGeneral Hospital for Children cancer patients.

Sandy Aiello, right

For one marathon team member, the race represents a bittersweet mix of tears and triumph. Waltham native Sandy Aiello will be running in honor of her daughter, Kayla, a former patient on Ellison 17. Kayla was 5 1/2 years old when she died last May, following a long battle with a form of kidney cancer known as Wilm's tumor.

For Aiello, the decision to run the marathon came gradually.                                            

She first began taking long walks during Kayla's illness. "It was pretty much the only time I left the house," she remembers. "Pounding the pavement became my way of dealing with everything."                                            

Kayla had been represented in the previous two marathons by Alicia Foley, former supervisor of the MGH Bone Marrow Transplant Processing Lab and a close friend of the Aiello family. During the fall after Kayla's death, Aiello began to seriously consider taking her walking regimen to the next level.

"I knew about the MGH team because of Alicia's running for Kayla," Aiello says. "I decided I wanted to do something in Kayla's memory, and this became my focus — my release for my feelings." She began training with a friend of her husband's, and slowly strengthened her running schedule, eventually logging as many as 56 miles in one week. Right, Kayla Aiello

Aiello says that she is running the marathon both for Kayla and for the MGH. "I see this as a way of involving Kayla's memory in a cause that is very near and dear to me and my family," she explains. "The MGH has been part of our lives for as long as Kayla has."                                            

Aiello also credits the support of her friends and community: to date, she has received more than $20,000 in contributions to the marathon team. "I have received a check every day since January, coming from more than 600 people," she says. "I'm just overwhelmed by the support and good will that has been extended to me." On Marathon Monday, a group of 200 well-wishers — many wearing T-shirts emblazoned with Kayla's photo — will gather along the marathon route to cheer on Aiello and her teammates. All MGHers are invited to join the group at mile 20 on Sumner Street in Newton.

The marathon team's traditional pasta dinner, held the evening before the race, carries special significance for Aiello. While the other runners will meet their patient partners and present them with honorary medals, 4-year-old Amanda Aiello will receive a medal bearing her sister's name. "It is going to be a very emotional, wonderful experience," Aiello says. "Being a part of the marathon team was a calling for me. It came up at exactly the right time."

On Marathon Monday, spectators can track individual runners live on the web at http://www.bostonmarathon.org.

At left, David Peckham, RRT, and Annie Desrosiers, RRT

While most marathon runners participate for the sake of physical strength, sheer enjoyment or a good cause, two MGHers are proud to race for all three reasons.

"Running a marathon is the most amazing thing," says MGH respiratory therapist Annie Desrosiers, RRT. Her colleague and fellow runner David Peckham, RRT, agrees. "After running in last year's Boston Marathon," he says, "I promised myself that if I ever went through this again, I would do it for charity."

This year, Peckham is running in the marathon as a part of the MassGeneral Marathon Team "Fighting Kids' Cancer ... One Step at a Time" while Desrosiers, who qualified last year for the race, is running on her own. Yet their racing efforts will not end on Marathon Monday; they will travel to Hawaii to run in the Train to End Stroke Marathon June 24. Desrosiers and Peckham will be running for the American Stroke Association and are holding a series of fundraisers to raise money for the charity.