Hello all - Spike Hayden here. I am proud to announce that I'll be running the NYC marathon this year. We are running it back!!

As I look to accomplish my 2nd consecutive NYC marathon, it is my mission to raise awareness and donations honoring the lives of George Barnard Christie and Morgan Hickman Boston. These two individuals were a special part of my life who were afflicted with these unimaginable, rare forms of cancer.

This money will be donated to both the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation and Memorial Sloan Kettering's Rare Sarcoma Research.

George Christie, passed away from Cholangiocarcinoma in 2021 at the young age of 29. George was universally loved. He had an infectious personality and an innate ability to befriend all those he met. He was the life of every party and the energy in every room. He was a loving husband to his wife, Sarah, an exemplary son to his parents, and a caring brother to his siblings, Sam, Emma, and his twin brother, Ollie. George truly was an incredible person and we miss him dearly. George was a permanent fixture in our lives, as we all grew up together in Connecticut, attended the same middle school, high school, college and roommates in NYC for years.

Cholangiocarcinoma has a low survival rate and like many forms of rare cancer is wildly underfunded. We are raising in honor of George's memory and for the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation. The foundation has been doing amazing work and we are confident that every dollar raised will be going towards the fight.

Morgan Boston, passed away on August 8, 2022 at the young age of 29, after a courageous battle against cancer. In 2019, Morgan received her diagnosis of a rare sarcoma cancer. For the next three years, Morgan continued to live as she always had – to its fullest. She went skiing in Whistler, attended many friends’ weddings, and journeyed the pilgrimage path of the Portuguese Camino de Santiago (the Way of St. James) with her family. She spent every day expressing her profound gratitude for the beautiful life she lived and the love that surrounded her. She trusted God’s plan in all things, hoping that some good would come from her struggles and thanking everyone for the help she received.

Morgan pulled the whole family closer together every day – whether around the table for a board game or rallying the family for a movie night. She constantly checked on everyone – face timing her siblings and nephews, even from other parts of the same house. She passed away with her family by her side full of grace and peace.

Thank you all for your consideration and wish me luck. We'll be celebrating after the race so please join us if you're in NYC!

-Spike Hayden, The Christie, and Boston Family