Coney Flowers felt her husband, Benjamin, did everything he could and more during her battle with acute T-cell lymphoblastic leukemia two years ago. For 40 days and nights, the couple spent every moment together in a Massachusetts General Hospital room as Coney received inpatient treatment for the blood cancer.
Nearly two years cancer-free, it’s Coney supporting Benjamin as the 35-year-old prepares to run the Boston Marathon Monday, April 20 in honor of her and the team that cared so deeply for the Belmont couple.
“Benjamin running the marathon means everything to me because he took a back seat in his personal life when I went through treatment,” Coney said. “I saw him pour everything into me. Now he gets to work on something for himself again.”
The Texas natives moved to Boston from Dallas in 2022 for Benjamin’s job at MIT Lincoln Laboratory as a government security representative.
Following her diagnosis in 2024, Coney spent a cumulative 70 days in the hospital for treatment and a bone marrow transplant. During that time, the couple found a positive distraction: writing children’s books.
Co-authored by Benjamin and Coney, “Dr. Hawk and Mr. Hare,” is about her experience and the care provided by her oncologist and friend, Dr. Hanno Hock. They have since written a follow-up book, “Dr. Hawk & Mr. Hare Dancin’ with Dr. Boots.” Richard Newcomb is his real name, but they call him Dr. Boots because he often wears cowboy boots.
“I call myself the creative director and he’s the producer,” Coney said. “[Benjamin] is really good with words. I just blurt them out and he ties it together.”
In one of the books, a character crosses a finish line, symbolic of Benjamin’s upcoming 26.2-mile run. The 35-year-old is running with the charity team Caring for a Cure, representing Mass General. To date, Flowers has raised more than $7,000 of his $10,000 fundraising commitment.
Benjamin’s goal is 4:48.59.
In addition to Flowers, more than 20 other Belmont residents are running. Here’s the full list with name, age, and bib number:
- Anna Biondo, 23, Bib #31006
- Mary Comer, 29, Bib #27983
- Sterling Crockett, 50, Bib #26842
- Jeff Dickerson, 35, Bib #29990
- Gwen Dubois, 47, Bib #21075
- Lisa Engler, 48, Bib #22152
- Abigail Fee, 43, Bib #26879
- Benjamin Flowers, 35, Bib #28073
- Ashley Green, 23, Bib #31436
- Daniel Griffin, 26, Bib #4346
- Heather Hagerty, 52, Bib #27188
- Mark Imrie, 45, Bib #8634
- Anna Kirkpatrick, 24, Bib #26855
- Tony Luongo, 54, Bib #9628
- David Marchefka, 42, Bib #4836
- Laurie Nahigian, 55, Bib #11691
- Becca Pizzi, 46, Bib #8048
- Lixin Qin, 52, Bib #10548
- Jan Reiling, 49, Bib #11364
- Donal Reynolds, 49, Bib #6692
- Timothy Riedel, 45, Bib #10802
- Mathew Swanson, 48, Bib #8880
- Annie Veo, 25, Bib #30465
- Erin Woodbury, 43, Bib #31061
- Yi Zhang, 45, Bib #21821
- Xiaomei Zhou, 49, Bib #21521
The Flowers also founded a nonprofit organization called HOOPS (Hope and Outreach for Oncology Patient Support), which raises awareness for blood cancer and bone marrow transplant recipients. Its focus is getting more people into the bone marrow transplant registry and raising money for the bone marrow survivorship program at Mass General. Coney, who is Latina, was inspired by another Latina patient who struggled to find a matching donor. Coney, the middle child of three, was a 100% match with her younger sister, who lives in Texas.
The HOOPS kick-off event will be a basketball tournament at the New Balance facility in Brighton on Saturday, Aug. 8, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“After transplant in recovery, I played basketball again, and it was my therapy,” Coney said.
Donations to the marathon team Caring for a Cure can be made a /bit.ly/4t9Q1JK
