In Loving memory of James Sullivan, 5/2/2002 - 2/27/2023.

I am fighting to honor my 20 year old cousin, James Sullivan,  and everyone else that is in a fight for their life as they undergo cancer treatment. I was 15 when he was born, and I have vivid memories from watching him grow up. My father had a fitting nickname for him, “Buzzsaw”  - a fearless kid with boundless energy. I  remember him building large bike jumps in the driveway soon after first learning to ride. He would always look to join  older family members in the overly competitive games we played. He never complained about being at a  disadvantage as the youngest, he was up for the challenge. 

He still has not complained..

In 2021, during his first semester as a freshman in college,he was diagnosed with Stage IV Rhabdomyosarcoma, and returned home to Boston for treatment - side-by-side with many others at Boston Children’s Hospital - Jimmy Fund Clinic for weekly extensive chemotherapy/radiation. 

Many of life's obstacles can leave you feeling helpless. I turned to boxing when feeling overwhelmed by life and the things beyond my control. For this year’s Haymakers For Hope event, I am showing up to fight for my cousin, for the cancer patients across the city and those in remission, as well as my family and families everywhere who have been affected by a loved one’s cancer diagnosis.

When someone has cancer, the whole family and everyone who loves them does, too.” –Terri Clark

I am challenging myself to fight and raise money for the people, like my cousin, who didn’t choose to become a fighter, but became one anyway after their cancer diagnosis. If my cousin is fighting, I’m fighting alongside in any way that I can. Through the funds we raise, we hope to help give life saving researchers the resources needed to find a cure.

I am thrilled to fundraise for an amazing non profit Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation and their Childhood Cancer Data Lab

Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation emerged from the front yard lemonade stand of 4-year-old Alexandra “Alex” Scott, who was fighting cancer and wanted to raise money to find cures for all children with cancer. Her spirit and determination inspired others to support her cause, and when she passed away at the age of 8, she had raised $1 million. Since then, the Foundation bearing her name has evolved into a national fundraising movement and is one of the leading funders of pediatric cancer research in the U.S. and Canada. ( https://www.alexslemonade.org )

The Childhood Cancer Data Lab's mission is to empower pediatric cancer experts poised for the next big discovery with the knowledge, data, and tools to reach it. We construct tools that make vast amounts of data widely available, easily mineable, and broadly reusable. We train researchers and scientists to better understand their own data and to advance their work more quickly.



To date, the Data Lab has trained over 200 childhood cancer researchers and has harmonized over 1.3 million data samples and made them easily available. Data that initially cost approximately $1.3 billion to generate, with refine.bio. This saves researchers approximately two weeks of time that would normally be spent processing datasets, totaling decades of researcher time saved. Over 5000 datasets have been downloaded from refine.bio. Learn more about the Data Lab’s impact here. ( www.ccdatalab.org )