Billerica’s Dan Sweet is a devoted father of three. He manages to keep up with 2-year-old Arthur, 3-year-old Margeux and 5-year-old Eugene with incredible warmth and patience. "When you're put in my situation, you're forced to just, almost forced to find a way," Sweet said.
Sweet’s wife Allie died earlier this year after a yearlong battle with breast cancer. "(I) proposed to her when I was 18; we got married when we were 19,” he said. “She was a stay-at-home mom, and she made everything work.
" Sweet said he made a promise to Allie to keep everything working. "When I was holding her hand before she passed, I told her that it was OK to go and that I'll take care of the kids," he said. Helping to support Sweet so he can keep that promise are family, friends and members of the community, including Newburyport-based Runway for Recovery.
The nonprofit supports families impacted by breast cancer. Founder Olivia Boger explains who they serve. "You can apply if you have had a guardian pass away from breast cancer or have a guardian who's diagnosed with Stage 4,” she said.
“Going back to the roots of how this was founded, I really wanted to make sure there was an organization looking out for kids for whom the cure does not come in time." Boger lost her mother to breast cancer in 2001. In 2007, she organized the first Runway for Recovery fashion show.
On the runway were survivors and others touched by the illness. "We had 10 models and 75 guests,” Boger said. “I thought .