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Wall Mural Project at Mass General Hospital for Children

I recently completed an 8 month environmental wall project with Mass General Hospital for Children and their Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Unit to commemorate their relationship with the Boston Marathon and John Hancock Life Insurance. The project highlights over 15 years of efforts of raising money for research, events, programs, and supporting the patient and families of children with cancer by participants running in the Marathon. It was an amazing project and incredibility for-filling. I worked with a wonderful team at Mass General and it was great honor to be involved in this project.

Mass General hallway Boston Marathon project, opening statement panel and Start graphic on the floor.
Mass General hallway Boston Marathon project, opening statement panel and Start graphic on the floor.
The project entailed documenting and celebrating the efforts of the Mass General Marathon Team run by Dr. Howard Weinstein and a tremendous staff of doctors, nurses, child life specialists and volunteers. Money is raised by volunteers who run the Boston Marathon. Each runner is paired up with a child and runs for them. There are several events held throughout the year with the main ones being a Pasta Dinner the night before the race, the Boston Marathon itself and a large gathering at Mile 20 in Newton, MA that the runners stop at and greet the Mass General kids on race day.

Marathon wall showing race course along with images of participants
Marathon wall showing race course along with images of participants
In the course of this project we reviewed hundreds of images, news clippings, articles, and 15 years of collected material. I worked with a great team and we ended up developing 8 individual panels that described and highlight the program and all its parts. We worked on this project for about 8 months including dealing with the Boston Marathon bombing in the middle of it. We also had access to a team of 4 photographers including myself that we used to document the Pasta Dinner and the Marathon on race day. My job was to pull it all together and tell the story.

Pasta Dinner wall, this fund raising and kick off event is held the night before the marathon.
Pasta Dinner wall, this fund raising and kick off event is held the night before the marathon.
Our hallway walls included an opening statement, a map of the race with photos, the Pasta Dinner, a Financial wall highlighting the programs, a wall of what the kids feel about the Marathon team and all they do, a wall for Mile 20, a press wall and a wall for donors. Throughout all of the walls are over 140 photos of the kids, the race participants, supporters and the events. We even included at Start and Finish line on the floor. The staff use the hallway to test kids skills and the new graphics just add an element of fun.

What the Mass General Team Means to Me wall. We laid out large paper scrolls and had the kid write their thoughts and feelings on it. Then photographed them and put them up on the wall.
What the Mass General Team Means to Me wall. We laid out large paper scrolls and had the kid write their thoughts and feelings on it. Then photographed them and put them up on the wall.
This project was different than almost any other project I have work on because of the nature of children with cancer and also the tragic events of the Marathon. Being with the Mass General support team at Mile 20 when the bombing occurred is something I will probably never forget and we weren’t anywhere even near the event. Mass General sent over 170 runners to the Marathon in 2013, all came through safely. This project had emotions of joy, sadness and tears mixed together, sometimes at the same time. Something not usually experienced in graphic design projects. I worked with two wonderful and talented women from Mass General, Heather Peach and Caroline Armington along with Dr. Howard Weinstein on this project. It was a complete team effort.

Mile 20 Wall. At Mile 20 family and children from the program gather to cheer on their runners. Experienced and first runner stop and hug their the kids. MIle 20 means a huge amount to these kids. Many runners run the Marathon to help share in some part of the journey that the kids are going through.
Mile 20 Wall. At Mile 20 family and children from the program gather to cheer on their runners. Experienced and first runner stop and hug their the kids. MIle 20 means a huge amount to these kids. Many runners run the Marathon to help share in some part of the journey that the kids are going through.
The project was printed and installed by DGI-Invisuals of North Billerica, MA, using an adhesive vinyl wall covering developed by 3M. To learn more about the Mass General Hospital for Children and their programs for dealing with childhood cancer please click here.

Press Wall. The wall shows some of the exposure this program has gotten over the years.
Press Wall. The wall shows some of the exposure this program has gotten over the years.
Finance Wall, this wall highlights the different programs that the team's fundraising efforts support
Finance Wall, this wall highlights the different programs that the team’s fundraising efforts support
Donor Wall, this wall thanks the key donors for this project and also highlights many of the other people that have supported these efforts over the years.
Donor Wall, this wall thanks the key donors for this project and also highlights many of the other people that have supported these efforts over the years.

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