She’s running Boston to honor her godmother who died of brain cancer

"I felt called to try and help families by donating to the Cancer Care Equity program at MGH."

April 5, 2026 | 11:00 AM

1 minute to read

In our “Why I’m Running” series, Boston Marathon athletes share what’s inspiring them to make the 26.2-mile trek from Hopkinton to Boston. Looking for more race day content? Sign up for Boston.com’s pop-up Boston Marathon newsletter.

Name: Abigail Dubois
Age: 23
From: Hudson, NH

I qualified for the Boston Marathon in September of 2025 at the Lake Erie Marathon, but since qualifying desired to use this opportunity to give back to the amazing city of Boston that, growing up in the area, has such a special place in my heart.

In November of 2024, my godmother, Diana, passed away from brain cancer. She was treated at Massachusetts General Hospital, and I will forever be amazed by the incredible team of physicians at MGH that gave her fantastic care and more time with her loved ones.

There are so many incredible families like Diana’s that are going through similar experiences, fighting through treatments, clinical trials, new medications, travel, and extensive medical bills. For this reason, I felt called to try and help families by donating to the Cancer Care Equity program at MGH that gives back to families and helps them pay for incidentals and those costs of living that are required to make it through cancer treatments.

I am very excited to have the opportunity to run with the Massachusetts General Hospital team for the 2026 Boston Marathon and to be able to give back to such an incredible community full of strong individuals.

Editor’s note: This entry may have been lightly edited for clarity or grammar.

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Kelly Chan

Content Producer

Kelly Chan is a content producer at Boston.com. She designs multimedia content on site and across social media platforms, and experiments with new ways to engage readers.

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