Boston Marathon human stories
This year’s Boston Marathon coverage is focused on personal comebacks: Jace Perkins — born a 1.6‑pound NICU baby — ran his 11th race raising funds for Boston Children’s Hospital, while Penn Medicine director Jen Brady donated a kidney to her mother last September and is registered to run just six months after the surgery. Multiple runners are also racing to raise funds for cancer and to honor lost loved ones, making narrative and fundraising central to the 2026 event. (boston.com) (nationaltoday.com)
Steven Iannacone, 57, of Hingham, has run on behalf of Jace through Boston Children’s Miles for Miracles for about a decade. (boston.com) Jace is scheduled to turn 12 on December 26 and is listed by his family as roughly 4½ feet tall and about 100 pounds today. (boston.com) Boston Children’s Miles for Miracles shows the team has raised $3,037,880 toward a $3,750,000 goal for the 2026 Boston Marathon, with top individual fundraisers such as Robert Hale at $273,285 and Steven Iannacone at $33,585 on the leaderboard. (secure.childrenshospital.org) Penn Medicine’s Center for Living Donation and nephrologist Amanda Leonberg‑Yoo have been publicly involved in supporting the Penn‑affiliated runner, and Penn has highlighted its living‑donor paid‑leave benefit and medical guidance that donors can expect to return to pre‑surgery fitness after recovery. (miragenews.com) Boston.com’s “Why I’m Running” profiles include Collin Nally, 28, of Quincy, who is running with his brother Conor to honor family members lost to cancer, and Julia Aldrich, 35, a breast‑cancer survivor running for Dana‑Farber after resuming marathons following treatment. (boston.com) The Boston Athletic Association reported the Official Charity Program raised a record $50.4 million in 2025, framing why individual comeback stories and charity fundraising remain a dominant theme for the 2026 race. (baa.org)
