Personal Profiles
Jim Walsh
Support Keeps DFMC Runner on Pace
DFMC Patient Partners Thomas Cross (left) and Jim Walsh at the 25-mile mark in 2001.
In 2005, Jim Walsh ran his 9th Boston Marathon® with the DFMC team. His patient partner, Thomas Cross, again cheered him on. Cross is now 21 years old and attending college. This story first appeared on the Web site in 2001.
Like many long-distance runners, Jim Walsh has a pre-race ritual that keeps him focused on his goal. Each April before tackling the 26.2-mile Boston Marathon, he pulls out a sheet of paper and silently reads the names of more than a hundred friends, family members, co-workers, and acquaintances who have been touched by cancer.
"I always hope the list will get smaller, but unfortunately it keeps growing each year," says Walsh of Fitchburg, Mass., one of nearly 400 runners who stepped out for the 12th annual Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge (DFMC) on April 16, 2001. DFMC Executive Director Jan Ross says the team is on pace to reach its $2.4 million goal for 2001, which would bring its total to $12.7 million.
Running with Sadness and Joy
Despite Walsh's sadness that so many people are affected by cancer,
there are many moments of joy and hope during his run - such as at the
25-mile mark, where Walsh meets up with his patient partner,
17-year-old cancer survivor Thomas Cross. One of about 50 participants
in the DFMC Patient Partner Program, Cross has been paired with Walsh
for the past five years.
Cross and Walsh embrace in 2002
Cross was diagnosed at age 12 with the rare nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Since beginning his treatment at Dana-Farber in 1996, he has come out every year to cheer for DFMC runners at both the Wellesley and Kenmore Square water stops, and even runs part of the race with Walsh.
"The first year Thomas came out to Kenmore Square, he had just finished chemotherapy and was too weak to run," recalls Cross' mother, Ellen Zaglakas. "The next year, he was healthy but he didn't run because he didn't want the patients who couldn't run to feel bad. I told him that he wouldn't be making them feel bad, he would be inspiring them with the hope that they would be able to run the following year."
Going the Extra Mile
Walsh and Cross have run the final mile together for the past three years, and their relationship has grown to extend far beyond marathon day. Their families often meet for dinner, and Walsh and his wife, Beth, have attended several of Cross' swim meets and soccer games at North Andover High School in North Andover, Mass., where the teen is now a junior.
In addition to his participation in the race, Walsh and his wife are members of the DFMC Organizing Committee, which coordinates the activities of the DFMC Marathon Weekend each year.
"Jim is just wonderful," says Zaglakas. "He's an amazing man who has been very involved in Thomas' life."
Zaglakas is quick to point out that her son isn't Walsh's only champion along the marathon route. He has supporters who greet him at more than a dozen different spots from Hopkinton to Boston, and he stops to thank each one, a tradition that has slowed him down a little over the past few years.
"I keep finishing the marathon a little later each year, but it doesn't really matter," he says. "It's the people at each stop that are important to me, not my time."
