Melrose Resident to Run 2013 Boston Marathon

Melrose resident Joy Fay will be running in the 117th Boston Marathon on April 15 on behalf of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, according to a Dana-Farber press statement.

Fay will be one of more than 550 runners on the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team participating in the marathon, according to the statement. The team is striving to raise $4.6 million for cancer research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and each runner will be need to raise at least either $3,500 or $4,000, the statement adds.

All proceeds will benefit Dana-Farber’s Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research, which supports cornerstone science research in its earliest stages, providing researchers with critical resources to test their leading-edge ideas, according to the statement. Findings from Barr program research can provide novel clinical insights as well as the results necessary to seek additional federal funding, reads the statement.

Since its inception in 1990, the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge has raised more than $56 million for the Barr Program, reads the statement. Dana-Farber Trustees J. Wayne and Delores Barr Weaver founded the Barr Program in 1987 to honor Mrs. Weaver’s mother, Claudia Adams Barr, who lost her battle with cancer in 1957, adds the statement.

To make a donation, visit RunDFMC website or contact the Dana-Farber Running Programs office at 617-632-1970 or dfmc@dfci.harvard.edu. Follow the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge on Facebook.