Watertown Woman Leads a Jimmy Fund Walk Team in Honor of Her Sister

The following information was provided by The Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk:

For the past 19 years, Colleen Sullivan, 27, of Watertown has participated in the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk. She is the captain of Team Amy’s Army, a group of 20 friends and family members who walk in honor of Sullivan’s late sister, Amy Lee Sullivan.

In 1993, Amy, then 2, was diagnosed with neuroblastoma and was immediately brought to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Jimmy Fund Clinic where she began chemotherapy and radiation treatments. In February of 1994, Amy received a bone marrow transplant that put her into remission. Consequently, Amy’s health stabilized and she was able to travel to Disney World for the first time with her family courtesy of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Six months later, Amy relapsed and she was brought back to the Jimmy Fund Clinic for further treatment.  

As a new family to the cancer world, Sullivan and her family took part in their first Jimmy Fund Walk in 1993 just one month after Amy was diagnosed. “The walk provided us with support and contacts of other families fighting a similar battle,” described Sullivan. “We were ready to fight this battle as a family; we took our first step by walking the patient walk with Amy by our sides.”

In April of 1996, Amy, then four, succumbed to cancer. Sullivan was just ten-years-old when she had to say goodbye to her sister. She has since participated in the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk every year. This will be Sullivan’s 19th year walking. On Sunday, Sept. 9, she, alongside members of Team Amy’s Army, will join an expected 9,000 walkers, who will walk up to 26.2 miles to raise $7.5 million for lifesaving adult and pediatric patient care and cancer research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Since its 1989 inception, the Walk has raised more than $80 million.

“Each year, I walk with Amy’s mass card from her funeral pinned to my bib number,” says Sullivan. “On the card is a photograph of Amy as well as a poem that I reread to myself silently before each Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk. The funds that I raise in Amy’s honor are a direct result of the support I receive from friends, family members and neighbors.”

Since Team Amy’s Army’s inception in 1995, the team has raised more than $350,000 for the Lisa Diller Neuroblastoma Research Fund at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. On Saturday, Aug. 11, the team hosted its seventh annual pub crawl in Faneuil Hall that had an estimated 125 people in attendance. The event generated $5,500 for cancer research and treatment in Amy’s honor. This year, the team hopes to collectively raise $20,000, one-fourth of which will stem from this event. Sullivan’s personal fundraising goal is to make sure that all of her team members are able to become Star Pacesetters, walkers who raise $1,250 or more.

“I will participate in the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk until the day I can’t walk anymore,” says Sullivan. “Knowing how much cancer affects so many people and how many great things that Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund have done and can do with continued funds from people like myself, is enough to keep coming back.”

The Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk, presented by Hyundai, is a one-day charity walk that supports all cancers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The event provides participants a unique opportunity to walk the historic Boston Athletic Association’s (BAA) Boston Marathon® route and to raise money for Dana-Farber. The BAA has supported the Jimmy Fund Walk for 24 years.

To register for the Jimmy Fund Walk, or to support a Sullivan and Team Amy’s Army, or virtual walker, please visit www.JimmyFundWalk.org or call (866) 531-9255.