Christopher Learn is running Boston to fight for a cure to cancer

"Hopefully if we all continue to donate to cancer research, more generations can share music together."

April 15, 2024

1 minute to read

In our “Why I’m Running” series, Boston Marathon runners share what’s inspiring them to make the 26.2-mile trek from Hopkinton to Boston.

Name: Christopher Learn
Age: 45
From: Brookline

“We haven’t found the fountain of youth yet, but exercise is the closest thing to it.” It’s an idiom in medicine, I was ignoring in my own life. As a cardiologist at MGH, I started running a few years ago because I felt hypocritical recommending to all my patients to exercise, even though I usually didn’t.

Knowing I’m nowhere near the qualifying times for Boston, finding a worthwhile charity was the only way I’d be running in the marathon. I was lucky enough to run in 2022 and 2023 for Pediatric Cancer team at MGH. What those kids and their parents endure is hard to describe. Anyone who works to make that journey better deserves our support. MGH Pediatric Oncology’s history with the marathon is particularly inspiring. Dr. Howard Weinstein, the chief of pediatric hematology-oncology, has run the Boston Marathon more than 25 times. He and the team around him have channeled a passion for running into such a positive force for good for the kids who come to MGH for a chance of cure.

I was on the fence for running this year. My wife and I welcomed our second daughter in January. I really thought about sitting this year out. When the marathon team contacted me that another runner had to drop out – I thought of my aunt Sue. She died in late 2023 only months after being diagnosed with a brain tumor. Sue was a brilliant pianist who loved teaching children how to play music. I’m heartbroken that my younger daughter Grace Susanna won’t ever get to meet her great aunt, bounce on her knee and start playing on a piano. Hopefully if we all continue to donate to cancer research, more generations can share music together.

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