Andrew Athanasian remembers many events from his first day at Harvard University, but one moment that stuck with him was when he met Grace Taylor. She lived a floor above him in their dormitory, and the two spent their freshman year bonding over lacrosse, country music concerts and more. Grace quickly became one of his best friends.
When they returned to campus as sophomores, Grace asked Andrew if they could talk. He saw a change in her eyes, and when she told him she had metastatic papillary thyroid cancer, all he could do was hug her. Over the next few days, he helped her plan how she would tell her women’s lacrosse teammates and prepare for her time off campus. He promised her that if she had to lose her hair, he would shave his head. On the lacrosse field, he wrote “GT10” on a piece of tape on his helmet’s jaw piece as a nod to her.
After treatments at Massachusetts General Hospital, which included a 17-hour surgery to remove 95 lymph nodes, radiation and services through the hospital’s Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Cancer Program, Grace’s cancer is now in remission. In their last year of college, Andrew is taking one more step to support his friend: running the Boston Marathon® in her honor to raise funds for pediatric cancer research and treatment, the Home Base program and emergency medicine at Mass General. Andrew is grateful for the clinicians who treated Grace and can think of no better way to celebrate her next chapter.
“Sometimes in life, there’s an opportunity to do good, and this is so clearly one of those times. I can look back on this experience when I’m older and know that I ran the Boston Marathon to help Grace’s experience become something that brings joy to others. That’s powerful.”
“We started together. I want to finish together,” Andrew says of their college career. “To have the opportunity to give back to the Mass General oncology team that took care of her and the AYA group that walked with her through treatment means everything to me.”
“Nothing Stole Her Joy”
The morning of Grace’s surgery, Andrew waited for news at lacrosse practice, anxious to hear if she would retain her ability to speak. The surgery was successful, and he and her roommate visited her at home afterward. What he remembers most is her positive mindset. “Nothing stole her joy,” Andrew says. “She was going through something serious, and she didn’t let it overtake her life.”
Grace kept up with school while she prepared for radiation treatment and returned to the lacrosse field in the spring. She earned an honorable mention for the All-Ivy team that season and continued to balance treatment, academics and athletics throughout her time at Harvard. The summer before senior year, Grace shared the news about her remission. To celebrate, both of them teamed up with several of Grace’s friends to participate in the Mass General Brigham Eversource Cancer 5k Run-Walk and raise funds for AYA programs. That experience inspired Andrew’s decision to sign up for the Mass General Marathon Team.
“The innocence and joy that kids have are things you hope are never taken from them,” Andrew says. “Grace was just 19 when she was diagnosed. You imagine a kid going through that when they’re even younger and what that means to them and their families. Mass General has treated Grace so well, and to run for Mass General, because they’ve taken care of her and so many other kids, is so meaningful for me.”
The Race Set Before Him
Andrew and Grace also share their Catholic faith. When Andrew became a Catholic during their sophomore year, Grace gave him a rosary as his confirmation gift. It was also during a Catholic mass they were attending together in New York City that Grace told him about her remission.
Andrew will have two Bible verses on his shoes when he laces up for the race on April 21, 2025, to recognize this part of their lives. The first verse is one of Grace’s favorites, John 1:5: “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” The other is Hebrews 12:1, which reads: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” For Andrew, he sees the cloud of witnesses surrounding him as the spirits of the pediatric patients who didn’t have Grace’s good fortune.
“To finish that race for them, it would be truly inspiring,” Andrew says. “For the kids who didn’t make it, when it’s mile 20 and I have to dig deep, that’s where I’ll find the strength.
“Sometimes in life, there’s an opportunity to do good, and this is so clearly one of those times,” he adds. “I can look back on this experience when I’m older and know that I ran the Boston Marathon to help Grace’s experience become something that brings joy to others. That’s powerful.”
If you would like to support Andrew, click here.
To learn more about the Mass General Marathon Team, click here.
