Above: A Southborough resident is using the 2024 Boston Marathon to raise funds for (images cropped from fundraising page and charity website)
[The Boston Marathon always includes a pack of runners from our town. Between now and Patriots Day, I’m featuring stories of resident runners donning bibs for a cause]
Southborough’s Jaclyn Kawka is running “in loving memory” of her mother and in hopes of sparing another patient and family from the heartbreak her family experienced when her mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
In her fundraising page for Project Purple, Kawka writes:
Pancreatic cancer is amongst the top five deadliest cancers. Known as the “silent killer”, it often shows no symptoms until it has reached an advanced stage.
This is my mom, Linda’s story.
Nine days. That’s how much time my mom had between her diagnosis and her death. Nine frantic and harrowing days, during which she held on and fought as hard as she could, while her healthcare team repeatedly dodged her only questions: “what stage?” and “how long?”
Kawka’s fundraising page chronicles the harrowing details. As for the motivation for her marathon run, she explains:
I can’t go back and rewrite my mom’s story, as much as my mind continues to try. But to quote one of my favorite TV shows, if you can take “the sourest lemon that life has to offer, and turn it into something resembling lemonade”, then maybe one day you can provide someone else hope. That is my mission in running the 2024 Boston Marathon with Project Purple, and I know my mom would fully support my sharing her story if it might help someone else. . .
Your donation supports research for pancreatic cancer detection measures and patients and families faced with this heartbreaking diagnosis.
I an interview with Project Purple, Kawka spoke about why she was running the marathon for their charity:
“When you’re dealing with what I went through, so much of the difficulty was that there was nothing I could do, I was just sitting there, helpless, watching this happen,” said Kawka. “And ever since I’ve been trying to find something I can do.”
You can read more about Kawka and her family in that interview here. And you can read Kawka’s own writing and support her fundraiser here.
To learn more about the non-profit “fueled by the pursuit of raising awareness, driving crucial research, and providing aid for patients who are battling” pancreatic cancer, click here.
[Note: If you are a Southborough resident using the Marathon to raise funds/awareness for a cause, please reach out with your information. Email mysouthborough@gmail.com.]
