What if your next walk or run could help change the future for kids with cancer?
You don’t have to be a marathon runner, break a personal record, or even participate in an organized race to make a difference. Whether you walk around your neighborhood, run a 5K, or challenge yourself to cover a certain number of miles, you can turn your movement into something bigger: fundraising for childhood cancer research.
For the community that gathers each year for the Abby Furco Memorial Color 5K, every step is an opportunity to honor a remarkable girl and help other children facing cancer.
Abby’s story is a powerful reminder that one life can inspire a community—and that you don’t have to be a professional athlete to make an impact.
Abby Furco’s Story: Turning Love Into Action
In February 2011, at just 4 years old, Abby Furco was diagnosed with Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a form of childhood leukemia that can be particularly challenging to treat.
Abby relapsed in 2014. She later received a bone marrow transplant, which came with a cancer-free status.
After the bone marrow transplant, Abby developed graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), a serious complication that can occur when donor cells attack the recipient’s body. The damage to her organs was so severe that her family brought her home on hospice in 2016.
But Abby persevered. More than a year later, she was thriving and traveled to Italy with her family.
Abby even became a 2017 St. Baldrick’s Ambassador, helping shine a light on the need for childhood cancer research.
Her journey brought hope to families facing similar challenges and highlighted the importance of research that helps children access better treatments.
Sadly, despite her medical team’s best efforts to keep her GVHD at bay, Abby later suffered from kidney failure and a stroke, which she never recovered from.
Abby passed away in 2021, at age 15, after an 11-year battle with cancer and its effects. Her legacy continues through the people who loved her and the community determined to help other children have more time, more possibilities, and brighter futures.
One way that community honors Abby is through the annual Abby Furco Memorial Color 5K Walk/Run in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
The event brings together participants and volunteers to celebrate Abby’s life, support childhood cancer causes, and show what can happen when people unite around a meaningful mission.
It’s more than a race. It’s a way to turn love into action.
One Family’s Story Can Inspire a Lifetime of Advocacy
Abby’s mom, Patty Furco, knows firsthand how important childhood cancer research can be.
In her reflection, “Childhood Cancer: A parent’s role, finding a voice, and a path through advocacy,” Patty shares how her family became involved with St. Baldrick’s after learning that two research trials funded by the Foundation had provided treatments that helped Abby live longer.
Since then, Patty has continued to fundraise, organize events, and advocate for childhood cancer research and families navigating a diagnosis.
Her message is a reminder that even when one family’s treatment journey ends, there is still meaningful work to do for the children and families who come next.
You Don’t Have to Run a Marathon to Make a Difference
Need proof that a personal challenge can become something bigger?
Meet Frank Nutter.
At 80 years old, Frank completed a 1,000-mile cycling challenge in honor of Abby to raise funds for childhood cancer research through St. Baldrick’s.
As Frank explained, his cycling journey was small compared with the challenges children with cancer and their families face.
His determination shows that there’s no age limit on making a difference—and no single way to support a cause.
Read Frank’s inspiring story and discover how he turned 1,000 miles into a mission for kids with cancer.
Why Walk or Run for Childhood Cancer Research?
Research helps scientists and doctors work toward better treatments, fewer long-term side effects, and cures for childhood cancers. Funding that work is essential to advancing discoveries and improving outcomes for children.
When you turn your walk or run into a fundraiser, you become part of St. Baldrick’s mission to Conquer Kids’ Cancer. Your effort joins a community of families, volunteers, donors, researchers, and advocates working to give every child a better chance at a healthy future.
For Patty Furco and her family, the importance of research is deeply personal. For Frank Nutter, it’s the reason to keep riding. For the people who gather at the Abby Furco Memorial Color 5K, it’s a way to honor Abby while helping other children and families.
Your reason might be different. But your miles can make an impact, too.
Ready to Make Every Mile Matter?
Whether you walk one mile, train for a marathon, or gather your community for a charity 5K, you can make your movement mean more.
Visit Turn Your Run or Walk Into a Fundraiser for Kids with Cancer for ideas and tips to get started.
Because every child deserves a future. Every family deserves hope. And every step you take can help move us closer to a world without childhood cancer.
