This August, Team MiraKind will line up at the start of the ASICS Falmouth Road Race. The seven-mile course winds along the Cape Cod coast, past the Nobska Lighthouse, alongside packed sidewalks, and ends at a finish line where spectators cheer for runners they’ve never met. It’s a beautiful and unforgettable race, but for us, it’s also something more.
We’re running to raise funds for MiraKind because we believe we can and must do better in the fight against cancer. Our growing understanding of genetics points to specific inherited biomarkers that can shape a person’s risk for cancer and guide care decisions. We’re working to turn that knowledge into something useful for patients and families.
We hope you’ll join us in supporting our run and the mission behind it.
Donate to Team MiraKindA race that makes room for a cause
The Falmouth Road Race began in 1973, when Cape Cod bartender and avid runner Tommy Leonard envisioned a seven-mile run from Woods Hole to Falmouth Heights. Held every August since, it’s grown into one of the most respected road races in the country—and since 2000, runners have used it as a platform to raise money for causes they care about, including cancer research. Olympic medalist Molly Seidel even ran it in 2021 to support a children’s cancer charity.
That tradition is part of what makes the Falmouth Road Race so special. Each year, runners take on the course not just for themselves, but also to support causes they care about. For us, race day is one way to contribute to the work we care about throughout the rest of the year.
What your support makes possible
For over a decade, MiraKind has worked to advance more personalized cancer care through the study of a unique class of inherited genetic biomarkers.
Learn about our biomarkers and their impact on treatment choice
When you give to MiraKind, your donation advances our mission in three specific ways:
- Creates educational material that explains what these biomarkers mean to patients and how they can factor into treatment decisions.
- Supports ongoing research into how these biomarkers influence cancer risk, prevention, and treatment.
- Funds access to biomarker testing through our research registries, where patients help us define how these tests could be helpful in guiding cancer care.
Education. Research. Access. Every donation helps advance these efforts, whether you give once or every year.
Ways to support us
Ready to support Team MiraKind? You can give directly to MiraKind or to one of our runners. However you choose, your contribution goes toward advancing our mission.
Support a Runner or DonateThere are other ways to support us, too. Share what we’re doing with your community or on social media, or point friends and family to our Genetics & Cancer page to learn more about these biomarkers.
Why we’re running
Each runner has their own reason for taking on the Falmouth Road Race and supporting MiraKind.
For Samantha Sammut, the reason is close to home. “Cancer has impacted the lives of many people I care about — family and friends whose experiences have shown me how crucial better, more personalized treatment options are,” she says. “Supporting genetic research isn’t just important to me — it’s personal, and it’s the key to transforming how we fight cancer in the future.“
Trinity Tesoriero Montoya is running for her mother, who died from breast cancer in the 1990s, before genetic testing was widely available. “I’m running to help raise awareness for other families of MiraKind’s groundbreaking genetic research and tests that help prevent and treat cancer.“
And for Tessa F, the work is both professional and personal. “I’m proud to support MiraKind in its efforts to advance cancer research and improve outcomes for patients impacted by cancer,” she says. “This cause has been the focus of much of my career and is especially meaningful to me as a parent. I hope for a healthier future for my children and for generations to come.“
Thank you for being a part of our cause
Samantha, Trinity, and Tessa are running for different people and for different reasons, but they are united by a shared belief in the importance of using inherited genetic biomarkers to help guide more informed cancer care decisions. We’re grateful to everyone who supports this effort.
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, donations to MiraKind are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Your support helps move our mission forward.
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