Terry Moskowitz is walking 10 miles every other day, and pulling 20 on the weekends, but her pace has more behind it than desire for a solid workout.
Moskowitz, a 64-year-old Delmar resident, is training for her ninth Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk.
“I had a family member that had cancer and they started giving me all sorts of information about it,” Moskowitz said from the side of County Road 306 in Slingerlands.
Before she did her first Jimmy Fund Walk, she had just finished a 60-mile trek. The family member asked her why not do this new walk, and then she took on the cause. As Moskowitz become involved in the marathon, she said suddenly her friends starting being diagnosed with cancer. Many of her friends were going to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston to receive treatment.
“This was my way of paying back,” she said. “I had tons and tons of friends that started going there and this was my way of helping as I can.”
The Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk benefits the cancer institute and helps fund adult and pediatric care and research to improve the chances of survival. This will be the 25th annual marathon and it’s tentatively scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 8. Since the marathon began, it has raised a total of almost $87 million. The course follows the same route as the 26.2-mile Boston Marathon.
On March 15, Moskowitz had a “tough surgery” and her doctor basically told her to take it easy. She didn’t exactly stick to doctor’s orders, though.
“(My doctor) is a sports person and he knows that I am crazy, but he didn’t think that I was going to do this,” she said. “People ask me why I’m doing it, but it is because I can.”
She recently started sending messages to her friends asking for help raising funds for the race. She’s nearly reached her fundraising goal of $1,500. Moskowitz said two friends’ names would be on her back during the walk, one who has fourth-stage ovarian cancer and another who is fighting breast cancer.
The walk has new meaning this year after the Boston Marathon bombing. Organizers are letting anyone who did not finish the race in April to enter the Jimmy Fund Walk for free.
“Usually there are around 10,000 people … but two weeks into the open admissions they have allowed around 5,000 (of Boston Marathon participations) to be admitted,” Moskowitz said.
Moskowitz gets to walk with different people each year. One year, she walked with a woman who had survived three bouts of cancer whose husband had left her because he couldn’t take it anymore, Moskowitz said.
“The last two or three miles her son walked with us,” she said. “She was just so excited about doing it and I was so excited for her.”
There was another year when she walked with a woman whose husband survived cancer, but he wasn’t able to attend the marathon due to his health.
“She was there with her friends and I walked with her. She just cried almost the entire time,” Moskowitz said.
Training for the marathon and other like it does help her feel “alive,” but is also happy to give a part of herself to help someone else.
“Maybe they will be able to eradicate cancer someday,” she said. “I am one of the lucky ones.”
To contribute towards Moskowitz’s Jimmy Fund Walk effort you can go to www.jimmyfundwalk.org and search for her name.