SOUTH HADLEY — Allyson Ramondetta wasn’t sure her mother would be able to walk her down the aisle. In 2011, a year after Ramondetta got engaged, her mom Michelle Bail was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. When Bail chose to undergo chemotherapy despite the low chance of survival, Ramondetta and her husband, Jj Ramondetta, decided to postpone their wedding until after Bail’s treatment.
The day before the wedding, Bail sat in her bed at Bay State Medical Center, recovering from the six rounds of chemotherapy, 80 pounds of weight loss and 80 blood transfusions she had undergone throughout the past year. Her cancer had gone into remission just weeks before, but weakened from her procedures, she struggled to walk. Her oncologist doubted Bail could make the wedding, but she was determined.
“My oncologist said to me, ‘You’re never going to make her wedding,’ and I said, ‘Yeah? Watch me,’” Bail said. “And he turned to me, I’ll never forget it, and he said, ‘You have to be the toughest old bitch I’ve ever met in my life.’”
On July 28, 2012, the same day as her grandparent’s anniversary, Ramondetta walked down the aisle with her father and mother, celebrating her marriage and her mother’s overcoming cancer.
Now, Ramondetta will walk for her mother in the 34th annual Jimmy Fund Walk on Sunday to raise money for cancer research. Along with four other employees from the L.L. Bean store in Hadley where she works part time, the South Hadley resident will traverse the full 26.2 miles of the Boston Marathon in honor of those who survived or lost their lives to cancer.
The Jimmy Fund Walk is a fundraiser for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Individuals or teams pledge an amount to raise as well as a distance to walk. Participants can choose among a 5K, 10K, half-marathon or full marathon, all of which follow the Boston Marathon route. Ramondetta has run a half-marathon before, but this is her first full marathon.
Even though she’s walking this time, “I’m hoping the reason behind me doing this and the people I’m doing it for are going to push me the rest of the distance,” Ramondetta said. “I think cancer affects everybody in some way, so I have a list of names I’m going to be walking with to help me pull through.”
Ramondetta is a full-time teacher at Anna E. Barry Elementary School in Chicopee, but got a job at L.L.Bean for a “dog food fund” that supports her seven rescue dogs. At the store, one of her co-workers, Kim Fawcett, who’s volunteered with the Jimmy Fund before, asked Ramondetta to walk with her. Employees David Hulmes, Jill Johnson and Julia Cady are also members of Team L.L. Bean Hadley Store. Currently, the five walkers have raised $3,557, including a donation from the L.L. Bean company CEO Stephen Smith.
Bail’s cancer is still in remission 11 years later. She’s active with Ramondetta’s son Georgie and continues to share her story. Each year in July, the family celebrates both Ramondetta’s wedding anniversary and Bail’s successful cancer treatment.
Yet cancer still impacts Bail’s life today. Chemotherapy enfeebled Bail’s bones: She broke six vertebrae and six ribs from falling twice this year. Up until a week ago, Bail was in rehab for her falls.
“Eleven years later, we are still dealing with it every day,” Ramondetta said. “And she’s better than she was, of course; she’s walking and she’s stronger than she was. But it definitely doesn’t affect [her] still every single day. It leaves a scar that never leaves, you know what I mean? Like it’s always there, and it’s always something that we think about.”
Zack Blackburn, director of the Jimmy Fund Walk, said Ramondetta is one of the many walkers with personal reasons behind their participation.
“The beauty of our event is anybody can walk,” Blackburn said. “If you can’t physically walk the distance, you can come support, you can volunteer, you can come out on the day and celebrate.”
This year, the walk will ending at the Jimmy Fund Walk Finish Line at Fenway Park rather than Copley Square. Blackburn says the finish line will serve as a reunion between the Jimmy Fund and the Red Sox, who have a long history together, for the Jimmy Fund’s 75th anniversary.
Ramondetta noted the support and appreciation from Blackburn and other Jimmy Fund staff despite the relatively small size of her team and contribution. She’s received personalized emails welcoming her to the walk and asking about her story.
“I think that it’s so important that I’d like to see our area get into it more. I think all of us are touched by cancer and so I feel like all of us can be doing something to help,” Ramondetta said. “I hope that this will be the start of a very long journey with the Jimmy Fund and hoping to do a lot more of this in the future.”
