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Grodd named ‘Captain of the Year’ for Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk

Date: 4/2/2015

LONGMEADOW – Peggy Grodd was been named “Team Captain of the Year” for her efforts raising awareness for the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk, scheduled for Sept. 27.

Grodd told Reminder Publications the award “means something to me, but it’s not that big a deal” because teams such as hers, “Amy’s Admirers/Webber’s Warriors,” have lost loved ones to cancer.

“I lost a sister to breast cancer in 2003 and then I had breast cancer in 2003 and I was treated at the Dana-Farber [Cancer Institute in Boston],” she explained. “It’s in memory of my sister Amy. We also walk in memory of my husband’s best friend Neil Webber, also a Longmeadow resident, and he died of prostate cancer six years ago.”

Grodd, who has attended the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk for 12 years, said her team is a combination of her friends, family members, and local residents. The team has an average size of about 80 people.

“Our team’s motto is, ‘Joining forces to find the cure,’” she noted.

She added that her team walks the Wellesley High School 13.1 mile route, which begins at the high school and ends at Copley Place.

Grodd said her team typically raises $130,000 to $150,000 annually, which is donated to doctors for cancer research at Dana-Farber. To date, the team has raised more than $1.5 million.

“Our money from our walk team is split between breast cancer and prostate cancer [research],” she added. “The interesting thing they’ve learned is that there’s a link between hereditary breast cancer and hereditary prostate cancer.”

Some have been team members for 12 years and others are more recent, however, almost all of the team members are united by their respective loss of loved ones to find a cure.

“We want to encourage as many people to walk as possible because it’s a great way to raise awareness for the need to find a cure for all types of cancer,” she added.

For more information about the 2015 Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk visit www.jimmyfundwalk.org/faf/home/ccp.asp?ievent=1119001&ccp=659907&track=WKMC111714G.