Our Story

In September 2020, Burke Miller was diagnosed with cancer for the second time in his 30s. As the father of two (now 3!) little kids, the news was hard on Burke and his family. Burke relied very heavily on running as a way to limit stress, in what seemed like an impossible time. It worked. Running also worked when he used it as a means to recover from his surgeries and procedures. Burke often joked that since his second diagnosis, running had been his therapy – physical and psycho. One of those surgeries was especially intensive and required a 10-day inpatient stay at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York City, NY over New Year's 2021. Burke had been cut from groin to sternum and was in the most pain of his life; as salt in the wound, it was Covid-  so he was in the hospital alone, without his family. During his stay, Burke did what any reasonable 30-something father of 2 would do in the hospital – watched movies like Brittany Runs a Marathon. Inspired by that story, he told himself that not only was he going to beat cancer and get better, but he was going to go big; Burke was going to run the NYC Marathon 10 months later. He texted two of my closest friends Brian Case and Steve Chuk – who had been doubling as his therapy team – and said, “Sloan has a NYC marathon team.” They immediately responded that if he ran a marathon, they’d run with him…

 

and Burke’s Team was formed! 

 

Now in its third year, Burke’s Team has had over 20 runners and raised over $70,000 for Fred’s Team, Memorial Sloan Kettering and most importantly ground-breaking cancer research. Behind the scenes, Burke’s Team is run by the husband & wife duo of Burke & Jesse Miller - with their three children, Pierce, Kennedy and Grant, as cheerleaders- as well as the support of each year’s runners, their families and cheerleaders who encourage them and support them on their running journey.

 

Every staff member, nurse, and doctor Burke and Jesse met at Memorial Sloan Kettering were amazing and the Miller family are forever grateful for the incredible care  Burke received on M5 during the hardest ten days of his life. The Miller’s have no doubt that if we are so bold as to “Imagine a world without cancer” then MSK are the ones who can deliver it. This faith in Sloan and desire to win the war against this disease once and for all inspires every member of Burke's Team and their families. 

 

So we run; and, we raise money to fight a disease that touches us all and does so far too often.