My father has spent his career giving people time.

As an orthopedic oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering, my father, Dr. Edward Athanasian, has dedicated his life to fighting cancer. When I ask him about his work, he tells me it's simple: "It is my God-given ability to help people." He gives his patients something no amount of money can buy - hope, and another chance at life.

In 2017, I interned at MSK as a data analyst. The highlight wasn't the data - it was the afternoon I stood in an operating room and watched a surgeon preserve a young woman's eggs during a preventative procedure, giving her the possibility of having children one day. She was handed a future she didn't know she still had.

I didn't follow my father into medicine. But this November, I'll run 26.2 miles through New York City with Fred's Team, and I've never felt closer to his mission.

He gives people time. I'm giving my time - in the hope that it gives someone else more of it.

Every dollar you donate goes directly to MSK labs, where researchers work every day across more than 400 types of cancer. Not to overhead, not to administration - to cures.

If you've ever been touched by cancer, this is your chance to fight back. Please donate, share this page, and run this race with me in spirit.

All contributions are deeply appreciated.