Wakefield's Fauvel to Run 115th Boston Marathon for a Cause

On April 18, when a pistol shot signals the start of the 115th Boston Marathon on Main Street in Hopkinton, among the thousands of runners who will set off on the grueling 26-mile road to Boston will be 18 runners from Wakefield.

Among these hearty harriers will be Katie Fauvel. 

Fauvel, 26, is a Registered Nurse at the Massachusetts General Hospital for Children pediatric Hematology and Oncology Division, and will be running one of the world’s most prestigious races to raise money to improve the quality of life for children with cancer and to help fund cancer care and research initiatives at MGH.

As a member of Mass General’s Marathon Team Fighting Kids Cancer ... One Step at a Time, and a 2002 graduate of Wakefield High School, Fauvel will be running her first Marathon on April 18.

“This is honestly the best thing I’ve ever done,” said Fauvel. “My co-workers and I, we’re sponsoring the same girl.”

Co-workers Julie Cronin and Courtney Gay, both residents of Boston’s North End, will team up with Fauvel, and the trio will run in honor of Saraah Casimir, an 11-year-old, who has been undergoing cancer treatments since she was just eight months old. Now in the fifth grade, according to Fauvel, Casimir loves all things Justin Bieber and her favorite subject in school is reading. Fauvel, who attended Salem State University, majoring in Nursing, is also running the marathon in honor of the daughter of another co-worker. Seven-year-old Alana DeLisle, currently in remission, is the daughter of a fellow Mass General employee.

This will be Katie’s first competitive race of any distance, and with the notoriously hilly course and invariably unpredictable New England weather, the world’s oldest annual marathon presents quite the challenge to the new runner.

“We’ve been doing weekly long runs, and a few short ones throughout the week also,” Fauvel said of her team’s pre-race training regimen. “They partner us with the kids, and they will be waiting for us at the 20th mile.”

Located in Newton, mile 20 of the Boston Athletic Association’s course is home to one of the toughest stretches of the entire race. A steep incline that seems to disappear into the trees as one approaches, known as “Heartbreak Hill,” is the final hill of the course before the runners reach the finish in Boston, but it is also the most taxing.

“My goal is probably just to finish,” laughed Fauvel, when asked what her goals for the race were. “No, but the kids will be waiting at mile 20, so I’d at least like to get that far.”

For such a great cause, here’s to hoping Fauvel makes it all the way through. If she does, the scene she runs into upon reaching Boylston Street will be something that will never be forgotten.

It is a scene that can scarcely be described to someone who hasn’t seen it firsthand; nearly a half-mile of screaming and cheering fans line both sides of the street, it is an awe-inspiring sight and has undoubtedly spurred more than a few runners on to the finish past the point when their bodies alone would have allowed.

There is a moving poignancy to the prospect of an inexperienced runner completing a feat that must seem all but impossible, when it is cast against the backdrop of the cause for which Fauvel and the entire Mass General Marathon Team are running. 

The kids at MGHfC, who must provide constant inspiration to Fauvel and her co-workers through their strength and courage, will be able to draw some inspiration from them for a change.

The Mass General Marathon Team, founded in 1998 with just 10 runners, is now over 100 strong and has raised over $6 million to date to help fight childhood cancer.

Other Wakefield Marathon Runners

George P. Brooks, 29; Emmanuel S. Buys, 37; Richard L. Collette, 60; Aine M. Cryts, 37; Chris C. Curran, 29; Jennifer M. Desimone, 42; Lauren E. Eynatian, 25; Timothy G. Fitzgerald, 32; Marybeth Inman, 24; Michael J. Mondello, 39; Kristine L. Nowell, 33; Teresa L. O’Brien, 48; Jennifer M. Olivieri, 35; Daniel P. Slattery, 45; Ashley B. Steenbruggen, 25; James W. Vincent, 39; Cristina Winsor, 42.