Published in the March 16, 2016 edition
By GAIL LOWE
LYNNFIELD – The runners will come from all over the world to race in the 120th Boston Marathon – Kenya, Sweden, Korea and other faraway places. Other runners might live right next door – runners like Lynnfield resident Angela Voto.
She can hardly wait for Monday, April 18 to arrive.
“Running the Marathon has been on my bucket list for a long time,” said Voto, a Registered Nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). “I’m running to help patients in my care and to honor my mother. I was 17 when she died from breast cancer. She was only 48.”
Last October, Voto applied to become a member of the Marathon Team at MGH to support the pediatric hematology-oncology program for children and she was accepted.
Since 1998, with the partnership of John Hancock Financial, MGH’s Marathon Team has raised nearly $11 million to support the program. Funds raised are directed to cancer care and research initiatives that enhance the quality of life for the hospital’s youngest cancer patients.
The team comprises 105 runners, including physicians, nurses, hospital personnel and parents and relatives of patients, cancer survivors and friends – anyone whose life has been impacted by cancer and wants to make a difference.
Voto already has raised $5,500; still, she is $500 short of the goal set by MGH. Her personal goal is a bit higher. She hopes to raise $7,000.
Her entire family is proud to stand behind the 23-year-old, including her older brothers Robert and Michael and her father, whose first name also is Robert.
The Lynnfield High School Class of 2010 and Northeastern University graduate lost her beloved mother Karen Voto, who fought a valiant battle against her illness, just a few months before her graduation in 2010. Like Angela, Karen also was a nurse.
“My mother was an amazing person,” said Voto. “She was a hard worker and she had a passion for her patients at Whidden Memorial Hospital in Everett. For her, nursing was never a job and she worked right up until the very end.”
Voto said she never ran much farther than her own mailbox when she was expecting some kind of special delivery; that is, not until she joined the cross country team when she was in high school. She later became captain of the team.
“I have Coach Joseph DiBiase to thank for encouraging me to run while I was in high school, and now the Marathon,” she said, adding that DiBiase has encouraged her through e-mails and also has donated money toward her fundraising efforts.
“Coach DiBiase has been wonderful. Not only has he encouraged me and helped me with fundraising, he also sent me energy bars, Gatorade and Lynnfield High School T-shirts,” she said.
“Coach DiBiase told me that running is very therapeutic, not only physically but mentally,” she said.
Now that she is training four or five days a week, with one extra long run as part of her training program, Voto realizes how great a commitment she has made. Between fundraising and running, being a competitor in the Boston Marathon has become a full-time job in and of itself.
Some days, she can be seen running around Lake Quannapowitt in Wakefield, while on other days she can be spotted running in “The Grant” neighborhood of Lynnfield. She also participates in team runs with Coach Dan Fitzgerald, co-founder of the Newton- and South Boston-based Heartbreak Running Co.
“I work every other weekend, so my schedule is tight,” said Voto, adding that she is now gearing up for a big 20-mile race at the Boston Marathon starting line in Hopkinton on Saturday, March 26.
She said she’s ready and raring to go. Her brothers outfitted her at Christmas with everything she’ll need, from new running shoes to gloves, leggings, a vest and headband.
“I’m extremely motivated,” she said. “On the day of the Marathon, it will be so exciting to see people who are supporting me on the sidelines cheering me on.”
Voto is not allowing the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013 to color her upcoming experience in any way. “I can’t allow that terrible incident to get in the way,” she said. “If I do, then they will have won.”
If there’s a downside to running the Boston Marathon, it’s minor.
“I’m burning so many calories that I’m hungry all the time,” she laughed.
At the close of the Marathon, Voto plans to satisfy her food cravings and celebrate by meeting up with friends in Boston. She’ll also attend a pasta party hosted by MGH at the Seaport Boston Hotel.
“I only wish that my mother could be here to celebrate with me,” Voto said. “But I know she’s not far away. She’ll be cheering me on right along with the rest of my family, co-workers and friends.”
How to donate
Visit Angela Voto’s personal online fundraising page at www.crowdrise.com/massachusettsgeneralBoston2016/fundraiser/angelavoto. Checks, made payable to: Massachusetts General Hospital, also can be mailed to Ashley Bronson, Mass. General Development Office, 125 Nashua St., Suite 540, Boston MA 02114. NOTE: Please include Angela’s name on the memo line or in an attached note with her name. Checks also can be mailed to: Angela Voto, 7 Bryant St., Lynnfield MA 01940.