Tread Strong: Support BIDMC’s 2019 Boston Marathon Team
BIDMC Communications
MARCH 11, 2019
Ten years ago, Chelsea Curran joined friends along the Boston Marathon route to watch and cheer for the thousands of runners passing by. “Before that day, I was never a runner,” she says. “But I was new to town and the Marathon is such a special event. It was impossible to not be inspired by the incredible athleticism and electrifying energy.”
Since then, running has become a regular part of Chelsea’s life. “The first time I went for a run, I couldn’t make it more than a quarter mile,” she says. “But soon I was signing up for a 5k, a 5-miler, then a half marathon. In 2016, I ran my first full marathon.”
Running has given Chelsea strength and tenacity that she didn’t know was possible. She credits these attributes to helping her overcome one of the toughest obstacles of her life—when her son Jacob was born nine weeks early.
“I had a fairly normal pregnancy, until my water broke unexpectedly at 30 weeks,” she says. “Suddenly, everything felt terrifying and overwhelming.”
For the next 47 days, Chelsea and her husband Tim made the Klarman Family Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at BIDMC their second home. “We learned the meaning of every beep and alarm, became friends with other families in the NICU, and drew strength from those around us,” Chelsea says.
“When things got really tough, I would think back to my previous marathon experience—even though it felt like a lifetime ago—because it was the perfect metaphor for our NICU journey: the road may be long, but I am strong, and I will get through it,” she says.
It is with this same mindset that Chelsea trains for another 26.2 miles—as a member of BIDMC’s 2019 Boston Marathon team—to raise funds for the NICU. Chelsea says that the care and support that her family received at BIDMC is something she’ll never forget.
“Today, Jacob is a healthy and happy toddler, and we are so grateful to the doctors, nurses and staff at BIDMC for giving him the best possible start in life,” she says. “I will run in honor of Jacob and all of the other NICU warriors and their families.”
Read more about Chelsea’s journey and support Team BIDMC.
About Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a leading academic medical center, where extraordinary care is supported by high-quality education and research. BIDMC is a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, and consistently ranks as a national leader among independent hospitals in National Institutes of Health funding. BIDMC is the official hospital of the Boston Red Sox.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a part of Beth Israel Lahey Health, a health care system that brings together academic medical centers and teaching hospitals, community and specialty hospitals, more than 4,700 physicians and 39,000 employees in a shared mission to expand access to great care and advance the science and practice of medicine through groundbreaking research and education.