By Madison Butkus
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Longtime Westwood resident Jessica Hajjar just recently ran her first Boston Marathon on Monday, April 15th, alongside her younger brother Matt. This sister-brother duo ran in honor of their late mother who tragically passed away in November 2023 after battling Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
ALS is an incredibly underfunded and devastating neurodegenerative disease with no cure, and witnessing her mother struggle with it, lead Jessica to take action. “In addition to running the marathon,” Jessica mentioned, “I have been tirelessly fundraising for the ALS Association. I am thrilled to share that through the generosity of friends, family, and community members, I have raised over $33,000 to support ALS research and patient care services. This cause is deeply personal to me, and I am determined to raise awareness and funds to help find a cure for this debilitating disease.”
Since Jessica was a little girl, she and her family could be seen each Marathon Monday on the side lines passing out water to the runners. “My mom grew up in Newton,” Jessica stated, “as a school teacher. And I just remember being a little girl and passing out water to the runners and feeling so inspired. I also never was thinking that I would be able to run it myself one day because it was such an unbelievable feat and I was never a long distance runner or anything like that.”
While this is Jessica’s first marathon, she has ran the Falmouth Road Race in the past for Compassionate Care ALS (CC ALS) organization. This past summer, she and her brother raised $15,000 for CC ALS in order to give back for all the help they do with those suffering from the disease, including their mother. For the Boston Marathon, Jessica and Mike ran for the ALS Association in which they have currently raised over $33,000 for.
When asked about how Jessica’s training went before running her first official marathon, she explained how she always thought of her mother for inspiration. “With every run I am doing,” she discussed, “I think about how my mom fought ALS with determination, passion, and grace. I try to channel her into every step and I think about other families and what they are going through. I think about my own daughter and how unfair it is that she is going through life without knowing such an incredible woman, and I don’t want that to happen to anyone else. So when I am training, I think about our slogan ‘Moving Miles for Mom’ that we came up with for the Falmouth Road Race. It really is on the nose as a metaphor, like we are running miles for mom, but we are also moving and taking steps towards a cure.”
With that said, Jessica and her family are extremely determined and will not stop until there is a cure for ALS. “We will continue to do whatever it takes,” Jessica stressed, “to put an end to the suffering and pain that people and their families feel when dealing with this disease. The advocacy piece and awareness for this is so important. The more people see it, they can recognize it and it becomes a topic of conversation that more people are having with one another. The more it is talked about, the more likely funds are going to be generated and we are able to find a cure.”
Once the race concluded, Jessica was most looking forward to spending time with her husband Cory, her 16-month old daughter Emery, and her brothers Matt and Chris. For more information about Jessica and her story, please visit her website at www.givengain.com/project/jessica-raising-funds-for-the-als-association-massachusetts-chapter-70395. On behalf of Hometown Weekly Newspaper, we would like to congratulate Jessica and Matt on their run of the Boston Marathon and all the funds they were able to fundraise!
