BOSTON — More than 8,000 people came out to Boston this weekend for the annual Jimmy Fund Walk. They made it from Hopkinton to Boston to raise money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Boston 25 News helped sponsor the event.
Some walked for the living and some walked for the dead.
"I'm walking for my uncle, who sadly passed away last year," said Christos Paraschos, a Jimmy Fund walker.
"John O'Hara was a good friend," said Eunice Feller, another walker. "After fighting cancer for four years, we lost him last December."
They walked together, either in teams or by themselves.
"This is the largest single-day fundraising walk in the country," said Zack Blackburn.
And certainly one of the most persistent. The Jimmy Fund Walk turned 31-years-old Sunday and has raised $135 million for the Dana-Farber Cancer Center in that time.
The goal this year: nine million more.
"Dana Farber really prides itself on a 50-50 split between research and clinical care," Blackburn said.
For some, the walk is an ongoing thank you.
"This is my 13th year walking," said Sarah Hamilton, whose daughter was treated at Dana-Farber for a brain tumor and survived. "She's going to meet us at BC and walk the last half of the course."
Others walk in memory of the loved ones who couldn't be saved.
Julie Lynch lost her son, Owen.
"He was nearly three years old and diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma," she said. "Which is a very rare cancer and [he] died three and a half months later."
Cancer doesn't discriminate by age, race, gender or income. And so they keep walking until they don't have to walk anymore.
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