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WINTHROP

Walking for little Jenna

Family fights cancer in honor of life cut short

By Craig Crosby ccrosby@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

WINTHROP -- Maybe she would have been a teacher, or a writer, or an artist.

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Team Jenna includes, from left to right, back row: Dave Campbell, Barbara Mangin, Laurie Milton, Roseanna Moakley, Jon blodgett. Middle: James Mangini, Zanna Mangini and Greg Moakley. Front: Jacob Milton, Jordan Mangini and Shannon Moakley.

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She probably would have gotten married and had children that captivated her thoughts, just like she always did to her parents. Maybe she would have been a scientist, hunting down cures for diseases that take other people's babies.

Jenna Mangini's family will always wonder what might have been if she had made it beyond a single birthday, but what allows her family to sleep at night is the absolute assurance that Jenna crammed a lot of life into her brief 15 months. And the love she left will never disappear.

"She inspired people to greatness," says Jenna's grandmother, Barbara Mangin of Winthrop, smiling at the picture of the beautiful, beaming baby on her lap. "She brought the best out in everyone."

That inspiration has lasted well beyond Jenna's death from infantile acute lymphoblastic leukemia in December 2007. Jenna's family and friends formed Team Jenna to join the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk the year of her diagnosis, in 2006, when Jenna was just three months old, to raise money to find a cure for the disease that eventually claimed her life.

"The disease is so rare that only 80 babies in the whole U.S. get diagnosed with it each year," Mangin says. "It's a very rare, very aggressive cancer."

The thing about love and inspiration is it usually lasts. If anything, the family's resolve to beat leukemia has only strengthened since Jenna's passing.

"Anything I can do to help another family not go through this really is the goal," Mangin said. "It's an opportunity to educate people and raise funds for research. It's such a rare cancer there's not a lot of funding for this."

This year's walk is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 12, which would have been Jenna's four birthday.

"This time it is a celebration for us, in some respects," Mangin said. "It conjures up memories. It's a tough walk in some respects."

Team Jenna has included the same eight people each year. That group includes Jenna's parents, James and Zanna Mangini -- James Mangini, when he got married, reinserted the "I" the family once had at the end of its name -- and Jenna's younger brother, Jordan, who is now 9 years old.

Jenna's uncle, Greg Moakley, and his daughter, Shannon Moakley, who was born the same year as Jenna, also have been there from the beginning. Jenna's maternal grandmother, Roseanna Moakley, and a family friend, Laurie Milton and her 9 year-old son Jacob Milton, also walk.

The newest recruit is Grace Rose Mangini, born to James and Zanna on June 30.

Also walking with Team Jenna this year, as last year, is Mangin's 17-year-old nephew, Jonathan Blodgett. A senior at Winthrop High School, Blodgett said he is anxious to again feel the energy created by thousands of people committed to beating cancer.

"It's a good feeling," he said. "Not many people actually sign up. Mostly people just go to do the walk."

Team Jenna, which raised more than $9,000 one year, has scaled back its expectations this year to $2,000 due to the poor economy. "Obviously the goal is to get as much as you possibly can," Blodgett said.

More than 8,000 walkers are expected to take part in the walk, according to organizers. The collective goal for that group is $6.5 million, which will be used for cancer research and care for adult and pediatric cancer patients at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

The walk has raised more than $66 million since its founding in 1989.

Walkers may complete the entire 26.2-mile Boston Marathon course, a 13.1-mile route, a 5-mile route, or a 3-mile route that accompanies patients and their families starting at the Dana-Farber campus.

Stephanie Wright of Monmouth is planning to do the entire marathon. Wright is walking with friend Amanda Salso of Gorham, whose mom is battling cancer.

"She's done it the past three years and I wanted to join her," Wright said. "I just think it's an amazing thing to do."

Wright and her friends make up the Maineiacs. Though she has never walked or run a marathon before, Wright has been training on 11-mile walks and recently completed a 14-mile trek.

"We're going to try to do 18 this weekend to prepare," Wright said. "I think at that point you have all the blisters you're going to need."

For thousands of people the Jimmy Fund walk is a way of celebrating a victory over cancer, but for too many others, like Jenna's family, it has become a way to keep a memory alive.

"She was such a delight," Mangin said. "She touched many, many people and continues to do that. She was a beautiful child."

Craig Crosby--621-5642

ccrosby@centralmaine.com

HOW TO GIVE: To donate, visit www.jimmyfundwalk.org or mail a check to The Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk, P.O. Box 3595, Boston, MA 02241-3595. To give to a specific walker or team, click "support a walker" link on the website or by write the team name in the memo section of the check. The deadline is Sept. 30.