Shonda Schilling Running Boston Marathon To Thank Dana Farber Cancer Institute

BOSTON (CBS) -- Shonda and Curt Schilling are both cancer survivors, and this year, Shonda is running the Boston Marathon to say thank you to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute for helping her husband battle throat cancer last year.

"He stayed in the hospital for six weeks, and just one after another the people were so kind and so gentle and so understanding of what we were going through," said Shonda. "The only thing I feel like I can do to honor them is celebrating what Dana Farber is."

Last June, Curt celebrated his last treatment at Dana Farber.

Curt had known about Dana Farber because of the Jimmy Fund's relationship with the Red Sox. But this experience gave him a whole new appreciation for what they do.

"I've been there to see the kids and talk to the kids, and you meet the help and they're nice," recalled Curt. "Then you're on the other side of it and you realize they're so far beyond nice. From a people's perspective, it was the most amazing experience of my life. As well as from a pain experience, I've never had anything close to it."

Yes, we remember the bloody sock en route to the 2004 World Series, but the Schillings want you to remember what caused Curt's painful cancer: Years of chewing tobacco.

Just this weekend, Schilling penned a letter to his younger self the night before he first chose to "dip" on a dare.

"I'm going to tell people exactly what is going to happen when you do it. It's not an 'if' anymore," said Curt. "Everybody that was on the fifth floor, the palliative care unit care unit of Dana Farber, was a smoker or a chewer.

"There are no happy endings here," said Schilling. "There are no 90-year-old smokers or tobacco chewers."

WEB EXTRA: Schilling On Battle With Cancer, Dana Farber: 

But today, Curt is happy to be alive and Shonda is grateful to be running this year's Marathon for Dana Farber.

"I feel good because I know that what I'm doing is going to bring awareness and some money to it," she said. "But I know I'm going to hurt real bad in the end."

And if you're hoping for another bloody sock moment from Curt, caused by joining Shonda on the course, sorry, there's no comeback to see here.

"As much as I would love to be alongside her and do it, I would probably be back at Dana Farber if I did it," Curt joked, getting a laugh out of his wife.

Stay tuned for more coverage of the 119th Boston Marathon on CBSBoston.com and WBZ-TV — the exclusive local broadcast home of the Boston Marathon!