‘Working miracles’: Man thankful for treatment he received at Dana-Farber as Jimmy Fund Walk returns

BOSTON — Growing up in the Boston area, David Thau knows the importance of the Jimmy Fund Walk.

“It was very much a part of the fabric of life in Boston,” Thau said.

But it wasn’t until age 34 that Thau realized the true impact of the Jimmy Fund Walk. For years, Thau said he experienced stomach pain, fatigue, and blood in his stool before it finally landed him in the emergency room.  A CAT scan would change his life.

“They found a baseball-sized sort of 7.5 cm tumor in my left descending colon,” Thau said. “So my diagnosis was stage three C, colon cancer.”

With no family history of colon cancer, Thau said the diagnosis came as a surprise.

“It’s the kind of thing that you think people get when they’re older. Certainly not, you know, in my mid-thirties. It was it was pretty terrifying.” Thau said.

At the time of his diagnosis, Thau was living in Washington D.C., and still does today.

The distance didn’t matter to him. Thau made the trip back to Boston after his mom convinced him to look into the Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer Center, a facility through the Dana-Farber Center, created to address the needs of colorectal cancer patients under age 50.

“It turned out to be exactly what I needed,” Thau said.

In 2019, he spent six months with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, undergoing twelve rounds of chemotherapy. Fast forward to today, he is cancer-free. January of 2025 will mark five years free of cancer.

“It’s always weird to say that I’m lucky. Having gone through cancer in my thirties, but I’m hugely lucky that it got caught when it did and that I was able to have access to the very best care in the world, which I hand to Dana-Farber,”  Thau said.

He encourages everyone to get involved and donate. So more lives can be saved, just like his.

“There’s never a dollar that you’ll feel better about giving than giving money to Dana-Farber,” said Thau. “They are truly working miracles every day and making life a little bit better for the people who are currently in treatment and then for the people who may be in treatment down the road.

Thau wants everyone to know the symptoms and signs of colon cancer. You can find a chart here.

This year, Thau is one of the top fundraisers for the Jimmy Fund. If you’d like to donate you can do so by clicking here.

To register for the Jimmy Fund Walk on October 6, click here.

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