Next Monday, Marathon Day No. 129, will feature tens of thousands of runners making their way over the 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Boston. Zawadi Lemayian, of Dorchester, who will be among the competitors, has a double mission in mind: To weigh in on the battle to beat cancer while paying tribute to two longtime friends, one deceased, who took the disease head on.

Lemayian, who was born and raised in southern Africa, moved to Boston in 2005 to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After graduating and spending a few years in the Midwest, she returned to the East Coast and settled in Dorchester, where she met a worker colleague and native Kenyan named Theresa, who quickly became a close friend and introduced Zawadi to her friend Anis, a high school classmate in Kenya.

“As life moved them through different places, they still stayed in touch,” said Lemayian. “I was brought into the fold through that connection. As life goes, those close friends become your tribe.”

The three women soon became inseparable in spirit. But as their friendship grew stronger, life took a hard turn for the worse: “Anis fought cancer several times in her life, and the last battle was in 2024. She passed away in September,” Lemayian said in noting that Theresa, living in Boston, was being treated for cancer, too.

Just four months before her death, Anis, who lived in New York City, had been awarded a master’s degree in narrative medicine by Columbia University. “It’s a really cool, innovative area of work that combines traditional medicine with the humanity of it,” said Lemayian. 

She added, “The idea is that doctors are far more efficient if they actually listen to the story rather than come to a patient with a view of, ‘I know what’s wrong and I’m going to prescribe medicine X and procedure Y.’ Because when you actually get to know the human beings and what’s behind them, you learn more about what could be at issue.”

Lemayian is confident that her friend could have changed the world and she hopes that by her keeping Anis’s legacy alive, she can still do that. She also wants to honor Theresa and her cancer trials and the unique bond the two friends shared with her. 

One day not long ago, Lemayian was scrolling through Instagram and saw a pop-up ad promoting the idea of running in the Boston Marathon in collaboration with Dana-Farber. For her, the ad was a sign. She would run the marathon for Anis and Theresa. 

“All the funds I raise will go to support the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research that goes towards funding research that just helps us understand cancer,” Lemayian said. “It will help people understand what tests need to be done and how to help find cures earlier on rather than later on.”

She added, “My goal is to get to a future where fewer families have to experience the heartbreak of losing a loved one, and eventually the goal would be that there’s a world that we live in that doesn’t have cancer.”

While running the race, Lemayian will branch away from her reserved style and don Anis’s favorites: pink and sparkles. She talked of her training: “There’s often the feeling that there’s so much. You’re overwhelmed, everything is coming down at you from all sides. But I look at both Anis and Theresa and the way they have fought with courage with perseverance with resilience. The moment I think of that, it’s just a no-brainer, go out there and get it done.”

Lemayian added, “I know it will be very painful for sure. There’ll be a physical and a mental toll, but that discomfort is really nothing when I compare the journeys of these sisters of mine.”

Those interested in donating can visit Lemayian’s fundraising page at https://danafarber.jimmyfund.org/site/TR?fr_id=2310&pg=personal&px=2689573&s_hasSecureSession=true.