Help Becky raise money

Why am I doing this?   I’m not going to lie – I honestly never thought much about cancer until I became a Weymouth Town Councilor back in 2014. Shortly thereafter, I started researching about chemical exposures of compressor stations to humans as our town was facing a proposal of one – and it just boggled my mind the of all the carcinogens that people living near industrialized areas are exposed to.  This sparked my desire to do something a little crazy - In late 2018, I took my love of running (which is a very deep and odd love – because if you know me, you know I am not physically built to be a runner – ha ha) and I became a charity runner for South Shore Hospital’s Cancer Center in the 2019 Boston Marathon.  A few months before the marathon, we learned of a little boy in our neighborhood, The Mighty Quinn, was diagnosed with brain cancer at the age of 3. It was heartbreaking for our community and just made no sense to me why a seemingly healthy little boy should have this diagnosis.  

Flash forward to 2022. We’re just getting over the COVID hump and I found out someone I know needed a kidney. I felt great physically – I hadn’t drank alcohol in years, I ate healthy, I worked out all the time – this seemed like a no-brainer to give this person one of my kidneys. So I signed up - MGH’s living donor program is amazing – great people all around!  But then I was rejected – tests came back not once, but twice that I have a precancerous plasma cell disorder known as Monoclonal Gammopathy of Undermined Significance (MGUS). Say what??  Not only could I not even pronounce nor remember this diagnosis, I had no clue what any of it even meant. And how could someone like me have this condition?  Literally the risk factors of this are men over the age of 60 who drink heavily and have a history of exposure to pesticides or radiation….and here I am a 42-year-old school secretary who runs road races and watches Dateline for fun.  It made no sense and still doesn’t.

MGUS is the precursor to Multiple Myeloma which is a blood cancer that affects plasma cells (white blood cells). Plasma cells are made up of 5 different types of heavy chains (IgG, IgM, IgA, IgD, and IgE) and those heavy chains all link up with 2 different types of light chains (kappa and lambda) to make plasma cells. Normal bone marrow produces a normal match up of heavy and light chains so they all pair up nicely with a few leftover – but for some reason, my body is making a ton more lambda light chains than I need. Right now, they just float around my blood and come out through my urine - but if they ever decide to team up, they can form tumors in your bones or organs and that’s when you develop Myeloma. It’s important to note – not everyone with MGUS advances to Myeloma, but everyone with Myeloma started with MGUS whether they knew they had it or not.  

Fortunately for my friend – he got a kidney through someone else and is doing great. As for me, I am healthy as can be, and I get to check in with the amazing team at MGH’s Oncology/Hematology department twice a year for the rest of my life – lucky me!  😊 But jokes aside, I am lucky.  I found this condition out while I am young, healthy, and have zero symptoms. I get tested and screened twice a year to make sure it’s not advancing – and hopefully, it never does. I can get a CT/PT scan or Bone Marrow Biopsy the minute something feels off in my body and I call my doctor.  But many people do not get this luxury…which is why I’m here today in 2025…

As many know Jarlath Waters – the Mighty Quinn’s Dad here in Weymouth – He has run for Tommy’s Place in the Falmouth Road Race a few years now since his son’s diagnosis. He too was recently diagnosed with brain cancer and is still signed up to run along with his daughter Maggie!  So it’s just the friendly and neighborly thing to do to support the Waters family and help raise money to give hope and joy to other families who are struggling with not only cancer – but childhood cancer.  I’m hoping to hit $2,000 while training to run the 7-mile Falmouth Road Race course to help honor and support the amazing organization of Tommy’s Place so that any family who is facing a horrific childhood cancer diagnosis can have the ability to have so fun and relaxation during that trying time.  What I have and going through is so easy to deal with – but as long as I have the ability and spark to keep going – I want to do a small little something to help others around me. Thank you for reading this very long explanation as to why I am running and thank you for your contributions.