Swampscott Dad and Daughter Among The One Hundred

Kristin Santanello, 21, hears the word philanthropist applied to her and her dad and it surprises her — pleasantly.

The Salem State nursing student and her dad, Dan Santanello, will be among the one hundred honorees at a Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center gala event Thursday.

The philanthropists will sit down to a formal dinner and program at the Boston Westin Waterfront featuring special guest Matt Damon.

The event will honor 100 people and groups whose hard work, discoveries and fundraising have helped advance the fight against cancer.

The father and daughter have raised $300,000 in pledges for the fight from their .

In 2011, Kristin became the first patient of the MassGeneral Hospital for Children Cancer Center to join the MassGeneral Marathon Team, a hospital spokesperson said. 

She ran the race and raised more than $21,000 for the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, where she comes for longterm follow-up.

Her father ran 12 Boston Marathons after his daughter, at age 5, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. She underwent chemotherapy for two years and the cancer has remained in remission.

Dan and Kristin are being recognized for their body of work.

The duo have run 13 Boston Marathons between them — 12 by Dan before he passed the torch to Kristin last year.

2012 was the first year that one of them did not run the marathon.

Year after year they have asked people in Swampscott to support their effort and time and again their friends and neighbors have responded, Dan said.

Dan said he is honored to be among the one hundred, but it is owing to the town’s generosity.

Kristin is delighted to be called a philanthropist in tandem with her dad and their supporters.

The town knows them as the father and daughter who ran the marathons.

Now they and their supporters will be recognized as philanthropists for the steps they have taken to find a cure for cancer.