Meet the Utahn running in the Boston Marathon to raise money for cancer research

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A nurse from Salt Lake City will hit the track at the Boston Marathon on April 21 to raise funds for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Lindsey Vaillancourt was one of more than 500 runners selected for the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge. This challenge supports Dana-Farber’s Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research, which supports early-stage cancer research. As of 2024, $132 million has been raised through the challenge.

Vaillancourt, a Boston native who lives in Utah, said this is important to her because of her family’s experience with cancer in their personal lives.

“My maternal grandmother passed when I was two months old from breast cancer,” Vaillancourt shared. “I’ve always wished that I could meet her, but I get to kind of experience her through memories from my family.”

As a nurse, Vaillancourt has also worked alongside patients diagnosed with cancer, and she said that experience changed her perspective.

“Thinking about her, and especially thinking about all the patients I’ve helped through nursing school and becoming a nurse… That’s just been a really important contributing factor to all of this as well,” Vaillancourt said.

Vaillancourt is not unfamiliar with athletics. She participated in lacrosse during high school and college, and she said that running was something she did outside of those activities for personal time.

“I love to run, so getting to do it for a good cause is really amazing,” she said.

Although Vaillancourt enjoys running, she has been working hard to prepare for the upcoming marathon. She may not run every single day, but she has covered a lot of ground.

“I found out that I was on the Dana-Farber team in early December, and so I’ve been running ever since then for it,” Vaillancourt said of her preparation. “I’ll do between six and eight miles during the week and then do a long run on the weekend.”

Although training can be difficult at times, Vaillancourt has used the fundraiser to center herself on her goal.

“It’s just having that perspective… you know, cancer patients at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute that would do anything to be able to walk or run. So it’s really — it’s a blessing to be able to do those things even when they’re hard sometimes,” she added.

Vaillancourt will be going to Boston to spend Easter with her family the day before the Boston Marathon. She says that her parents have been vital in her journey.

“I would not be able to do any of this without the support I’ve been given,” Vaillancourt concluded. “It’s definitely hard work, but this would not have been possible without my family or my friends.”

You can donate to Vaillancourt’s fundraiser for cancer research here.

Rebekah Adams and MJ Jewkes contributed to this report.