Staff from the local law firm Mello Jones and Martin will be heading to Boston this autumn for the most important walk of their lives.

The firm's seven partners will be joining some 6,200 walkers for the Jimmy Fund Walk on September 18 to help stamp out cancer. The goal of the Jimmy Fund Walk ? which has been raising funds for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston since 1948 ? is to raise $4.75 million this year.

"We estimate about 15 of us will do the walk," partner Juliana Snelling told .

MJM partners have elected to make the walk the focus of the their annual retreat and will be joined by eight other family members.

The entire firm is involved in the fundraising effort, however, and they are asking that the local community show its support.

Local fundraising has already catapulted MJM to the top spot of the Jimmy Fund Walk's donors list. The company's goal is to raise $200,000 and to date over $33,000 has been pledged.

The law firm has a long history of supporting local charities with past fundraising efforts going to benefit Bermuda National Trust, the SPCA, the Committee of 25 for Handicapped Children, Family Learning Centre, Agape House, TB & Cancer Association, PALS, Ross Talbot Golf Charity, Bermuda Society for the Blind, Bermuda Diabetic Association and Sunshine League.

But the decision this year to participate in the Jimmy Fund Walk related directly to the manner in which the Dana-Farber Institute has touched several MJM staff members and their families with its excellent cancer treatment.

Ms Snelling is among those who has had personal dealings with the cancer treatment centre.

Her two-year-old son Jude has been battling a rare cancer-like disease, Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH), for the past year.

The disease has no known cause and affects just five in one million children. It is treated like cancer ? with chemotherapy.

"It started with a rash on his scalp that looked like very bad cradle cap (a rash common in infants) and little pink rashes under his arms and in the diaper area," Ms Snelling said. "Everyone thought it was cradle cap for about four months and then when Jude didn't gain weight between nine months and a year, we got on a plane to Children's Hospital Boston to see what the problem was.

"The diagnosis showed that the bad cells (histiocytes) were attacking his skin, his ears, his bone marrow and his skull bone in various places, but in particular behind the left eye."

Ms Snelling and her partner Nic, an investment manager with Sunfish Capital Management, were devastated by the news but committed themselves to helping Jude battle the disease with the help of Dana-Farber.

The family, which includes Nic's two children ? seven-year-old Joshua and six-year-old Hannah-Rose ? have banded together and formed a ring of love and support around the toddler.

Jude has since thrived, Ms Snelling reports, the doctors in Boston say he has "significantly responded" to treatment.

"Jude's MRIs show that the large lesion on his skull bone detected in July (2004) is down to almost nothing, his skin has cleared and he looks wonderful," Ms Snelling said.

The positive effect the clinic has had on the family during a trying time in their lives is not a unique experience, however.

Roughly eight other staff members from MJM have had dealings with Dana-Farber clinic out of a staff of just 60, Ms Snelling said.

"Nic and I have met many many Bermudians in the halls and rooms of Dana-Farber and affiliated Children's Hospital, Boston next door," she said.

For this reason MJM staff feel it is vital that the local community join in the fundraising efforts to help support the clinic.

"Bermudians should join the cause because they benefit directly from overseas treatment as sometimes the treatment is not available here," Ms Snelling said. "Dana Farber and Children's Hospital, Boston are world renowned hospitals that beckon at Bermuda's doorstep and welcome Bermudians from all backgrounds. We are so fortunate to have this available as a resource. Greeting you at Children's Hospital, Boston is a sign that says 'When they said nothing more could be done, they came to Boston'. That says it all."

For more information on MJM's partipation in the Jimmy Fund Walk see the company's website at www.mjm.bm or visit the MJM team's page at www.jimmyfundwalkregistration.org. On-line credit card donations can be made on the team web page.

Alternatively, those interested in donating can send a cheque payable to "Mello Jones & Martin" (memo: Jimmy Fund Walk) to MELLO JONES & MARTIN, Reid House, 31 Church Street, Hamilton HM12 c/o J. Snelling