For the City of Boston, Marathon Day is a longstanding tradition. For Gift of Life, Marathon Day 2010 will forever be remembered as the day that 840 new donors were tested along the marathon route as the race was underway. Four locations with swabbing stations were set up throughout the city, manned by volunteers, ready to swab new potential donors, and all in the hope of finding a match for nine year old Sarah, who resides in the Boston suburb of Brookline.

Gift of Life mentor and volunteer, Louise Cohen, heard about Sarah at her synagogue, Kehillath Israel. Sarah had recently been diagnosed for the second time with ALL, acute lymphocytic leukemia. After passing the five year mark since her first diagnosis, her parents thought she was on her way to a healthy life. With this recurrence of the leukemia, though, it became evident that Sarah would need a bone marrow transplant. 

Since Kehillath Israel is near a popular viewing spot for marathon spectators, Louise had the full support of her synagogue’s leadership, and three more synagogues along the marathon route enthusiastically followed suit. Louise remarked, ‘We had less than a week to put together this large effort and find enough volunteers to make four simultaneous drives succeed, but Sarah and her family are so beloved that our biggest challenge was to respond to the overwhelming number of people wanting to help.”

Sarah’s positive outlook gives everyone around her hope. Her classmates came out and held up signs, unafraid to ask people to get tested. As the race wound down, Sarah’s best friend Maisie held up Sarah’s picture and called out, "Take a break – you know you want to!” To the amazement of everyone, marathon runners actually left the course, got tested and then returned to finish the race.

And so, on a clear, cool day in the Boston area, people came not only to watch and cheer as the marathoners ran by, but also to swab their cheeks in the hope of saving a life.  And all of them were inspired by one courageous young girl.