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In This Issue:
BWH Marathon Team members Kim and Ryan Harrington taste the victory of completing this year's Marathon.
Members of the 2014 Brigham and Women's Hospital Marathon Team came from near and far on Patriots' Day to run for both a hospital and a race that is close to their hearts.
In total, 122 runners, each with his or her own story of why they run, have raised more than $790,000 to support life-giving breakthroughs at BWH.
Wearing his Boston Marathon medal proudly on Monday afternoon, Ming Cheung, along with dozens of other BWH Marathon Team runners and supporters, gathered at Boston Sports Club on Boylston Street after finishing the 26.2-mile event to recover and celebrate the incredible achievement.
Last year, Cheung, of Framingham, was unable to cross the finish line due to the bombings. He said he wanted to run a second time for BWH's team so he could support the hospital and experience the feeling of making it to the finish.
"Boston's my home, and I couldn't imagine running any other marathon," Cheung said.
Running their first Boston Marathon with the team, Kim Harrington and her husband Ryan, of Ohio, said they had nothing short of a phenomenal experience. They ran to mark their daughter Kelly's fifth birthday, and as an expression of gratitude for the physicians, nurses and staff who saved Kelly's life when she was born three-and-a-half months premature and required care in BWH's NICU for 108 days.
"The nurses at BWH kept her alive, and cared for her and us with ever-flowing compassion and grace," said Harrington. "We could never repay them for what they did for our family. Kelly is with us today because of the miraculous care she received at BWH."
Stretching on an exercise mat while talking to her husband and mother, Sara Adland, senior consultant in BWH Clinical Services and a former Deland Fellow, said she wanted to run with the BWH Marathon Team for a second year in honor of the hospital's response to last year's bombings.
Lane Garnett, whose friends work at BWH, echoed Adland's sentiments and said it felt good to support an organization that does so much for people. "The hospital was right behind us the entire way," he said.
Running her second Boston Marathon and first one with BWH's team, Kelly Fanning, of the Brigham and Women's Physicians Organization, said it was easy to decide what organization she wanted to run for. She ran to honor those who aren't able to participate anymore as a result of last year's tragedy.
"It's hard not to be inspired by this hospital," Fanning said. "But certainly even more so because of last year's events and what the hospital did to honor the anniversary this year. It means a lot to be able to run in 2014."