Eight Years. One Reason.

This November I'll run the TCS New York City Marathon with Fred's Team for the eighth year in a row.

I started because of my friend Mark Kourey. In 2018, Mark ran New York while in treatment for prostate cancer at Memorial Sloan Kettering, diagnosed at 40, already stage 3. Watching him finish that race is what got six of us from college to sign up the next year. We called ourselves Team Mark.

Mark ran three New York City Marathons. His last one took just under eight hours, and none of us knew at the time that his cancer had spread to his lungs. He walked most of it and never stopped smiling. We lost him in May of 2023.

MSK gave Mark thirteen years he wasn't supposed to have. He never wanted to be the face of this, he'd tell me it was never about him, it was about the place that kept him alive and the people still in the fight. So we kept going. Team Mark has now raised more than $500,000 for MSK.

A Marathon, Not a Sprint

We say that about cancer research all the time. I've run enough marathons to know what it actually means: the middle miles are long and unglamorous and nobody's watching. You don't see the finish line for a very long time. You hold the pace anyway.

But lately it's starting to feel like we can see the finish line. Treatments that were experimental when Mark started are standard care now. Childhood leukemia survival rates that sat at 5% in the 1970s are 95% today. That happened because people funded it, year after year, mile after mile.

I'm not stopping until we get there.

100% of Your Donation Supports Research

Named in honor of New York City Marathon co-founder and MSK patient Fred Lebow, Fred's Team brings together passionate runners and supporters to lead the way against cancer. 100% of the funds I raise go directly into MSK labs, where doctors and scientists have expertise in more than 400 types of cancer and work every day to find new cures.

What's Next

I've also committed to run the 2027 London Marathon for Fred's Team. Every dollar raised here counts toward that goal too, so your gift funds MSK research immediately and helps get me to that start line.

Whatever you can give makes a difference. Thank you!

Tommy