Well, it is Thursday and time for an update. Unfortunately with all of the storms our internet is down and it may be a bit before they can get us back online. We are doing our training runs and just this week sent out our support letters. (We got our first one back today! Thanks Mom and Dad!!) That will be my update for today... stay tuned next Thursday for my next TNT update when life looks to have settled down a bit and hopefully our internet will be up and running. (Hopefully I'll have a regular post later this weekend. I have more knitting to show!!)
Thanks to all for the Anniversary wishes!!
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
TNT-Thursday
Ok, ok, I know that it is Friday, but it has just been one of those weeks. (Have you ever had one of those weeks?) But I still wanted to give you an update on things. Today I thought I would share a little more about Team in Training.Team in Training is first and foremost a fundraising program. The primary objective is to raise funds for blood-related cancer research. They work hand in hand with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society whose mission is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma and to improve the quality of life of patients and their families.
Since it's establishment in 1949, The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has awarded over $550 million dollars in research grants. And great strides have been made. One of the most incredible research advances has been the increasing cure rate for children with acute lymphocytic leukmia (ALL). In 1960, less than 5 percent of the children with ALL survived. Today, over 80 percent of the children diagnosed with ALL are surviving! That is AMAZING! And that has been in my lifetime.
The heart of the Team in Training program is the patient that those who are training and raising funds train in honor of. An Honored Patient is someone who has been diagnosed with leukemia or a related cancer and has agreed to be a Team's inspiration. As I mentioned in a previous post, Jared is our Honored Patient that our team is running for.And now to my training. When I signed the dotted line to run this marathon I was not exercising at all. Nada. So I have a long way to go. Team in Training provides a coach who comes up with a training plan and helps in every way he can to ensure that you will cross the finish line. Slowly but surely I am getting stronger. Tomorrow will be my 'long run' of the week and I'll be going 5 miles. Each week my long run increases. During the week I do shorter runs with some cross training on off days. It feels good to be exercising again and to be doing it for such a great cause.
Next week I'll 'introduce' another one of the special people that Steve and I are running in memory of.
Until Next Time...
(If you are interested in donating to my Team In Training efforts, please click on the Team in Training logo to the left of this post. And thank you in advance for helping in the race to find a cure!!)
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
TNT-Thursday
I have designated Thursdays as 'TNT-Thursdays' in hopes to update you on the marathon we are training for with Team in Training. We are running in honor of 3 people who were affected by Leukemia and Lymphoma and were very close to us. I hope in doing this that I can raise awareness (and funds) to help fight these diseases. Medicine has come a long way, but there is still a long way to go!!
Leukemia. It’s a word that didn’t conjure up many emotions 10 years ago. I knew it was a form of cancer, but beyond that I really didn’t know much.
That all changed on Wednesday September 22, 1999 when we got the call to let us know that Lindsay had leukemia. Lindsay? Not Lindsay! I was in shock - speechless for a few moments while Steve tried to figure out what news I had received that had caused such a reaction. As I told him the news that Lindsay, the beautiful 16 year old daughter of our dear friends Steve and Cheryl, had leukemia I could see his medical mind racing. His first question was what kind of leukemia (I didn't even really know there were different kinds!) I asked. "AML" I said. The look on Steve's face said it all. If there was a 'good' and 'bad' leukemia. This was the 'bad'.
A bit about leukemia:
Leukemia is a cancer of the bone marrow and blood. It is characterized by the uncontrolled accumulation of blood cells. The major categories of leukemia are myelogenous and lymphocytic, each of which can be acute (A.M.L. and A.L.L.) or chronic (C.M.L. and C.L.L.).
Acute leukemia progresses rapidly, resulting in the accumulation of immature cells that are unable to function in the blood and marrow. This results in anemia (shortage of normal numbers red blood cells), impaired ability to fight infection (shortage of normal numbers of white blood cells) and easy bruising and bleeding (shortage of normal numbers of platelets).
Chronic leukemia progresses more slowly and allows a greater number of more mature, functional cells to be made.
So, Lindsay had AML - Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. She was admitted immediately to the Children's Hospital and started treatment. The next 3 months were spent waging war on the bad cells and trying desperately to put the leukemia into remission so that Lindsay could receive a bone marrow transplant. Steve and Cheryl had a steep learning curve as they spent hours in the hospital trying to understand and make sense of every test; procedure etc.. that Lindsay was having to undergo. They started a page on Caring Bridge to journal about their experience and to keep friends and family updated. One can not even imagine what it is like to watch one's child go through something like this, but through her journal Cheryl gave us all a glimpse. (I will be sharing some excerpts from her journal in future TNT-Thursday posts). Strengthened by their faith in God, they walked through this dark valley as we all prayed for Lindsay to be cured. She was 'cured', but not in the way that we had prayed. Lindsay passed away on December 20, 1999, having fought the good fight. No more pain. No more sorrow. And we will see her again.
We are so blessed to have had Lindsay in our lives for as long as we did. Here is an early picture of our oldest son R with Lindsay at the Minnesota State Fair. I can look at this picture and then close my eyes and hear their little voices and their squeals of delight as they 'flew' on this ride. I'm pretty sure the next picture in the sequence was R giving Lindsay a big ole kiss on the cheek!
Our families are close. Together with our friends Renae and Mike, we form the Triple-R Gang. (All of our last names begin with R.) We often went camping in the fall; to the cabin in the summer and have rung in many a New Year's together. And when we get together we can still feel Lindsay's quiet presence because I think a little piece of her lives in all of us. And we are blessed.
Lindsay is one of the reasons that we are running. It may be too late to find a cure for Lindsay, but we also race for all of those whose lives will be turned upside down this year by the diagnosis of leukemia. We race to find a cure.
Until Next Time
Leukemia. It’s a word that didn’t conjure up many emotions 10 years ago. I knew it was a form of cancer, but beyond that I really didn’t know much.
That all changed on Wednesday September 22, 1999 when we got the call to let us know that Lindsay had leukemia. Lindsay? Not Lindsay! I was in shock - speechless for a few moments while Steve tried to figure out what news I had received that had caused such a reaction. As I told him the news that Lindsay, the beautiful 16 year old daughter of our dear friends Steve and Cheryl, had leukemia I could see his medical mind racing. His first question was what kind of leukemia (I didn't even really know there were different kinds!) I asked. "AML" I said. The look on Steve's face said it all. If there was a 'good' and 'bad' leukemia. This was the 'bad'.A bit about leukemia:
Leukemia is a cancer of the bone marrow and blood. It is characterized by the uncontrolled accumulation of blood cells. The major categories of leukemia are myelogenous and lymphocytic, each of which can be acute (A.M.L. and A.L.L.) or chronic (C.M.L. and C.L.L.).
Acute leukemia progresses rapidly, resulting in the accumulation of immature cells that are unable to function in the blood and marrow. This results in anemia (shortage of normal numbers red blood cells), impaired ability to fight infection (shortage of normal numbers of white blood cells) and easy bruising and bleeding (shortage of normal numbers of platelets).
Chronic leukemia progresses more slowly and allows a greater number of more mature, functional cells to be made.
So, Lindsay had AML - Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. She was admitted immediately to the Children's Hospital and started treatment. The next 3 months were spent waging war on the bad cells and trying desperately to put the leukemia into remission so that Lindsay could receive a bone marrow transplant. Steve and Cheryl had a steep learning curve as they spent hours in the hospital trying to understand and make sense of every test; procedure etc.. that Lindsay was having to undergo. They started a page on Caring Bridge to journal about their experience and to keep friends and family updated. One can not even imagine what it is like to watch one's child go through something like this, but through her journal Cheryl gave us all a glimpse. (I will be sharing some excerpts from her journal in future TNT-Thursday posts). Strengthened by their faith in God, they walked through this dark valley as we all prayed for Lindsay to be cured. She was 'cured', but not in the way that we had prayed. Lindsay passed away on December 20, 1999, having fought the good fight. No more pain. No more sorrow. And we will see her again.
We are so blessed to have had Lindsay in our lives for as long as we did. Here is an early picture of our oldest son R with Lindsay at the Minnesota State Fair. I can look at this picture and then close my eyes and hear their little voices and their squeals of delight as they 'flew' on this ride. I'm pretty sure the next picture in the sequence was R giving Lindsay a big ole kiss on the cheek!
Our families are close. Together with our friends Renae and Mike, we form the Triple-R Gang. (All of our last names begin with R.) We often went camping in the fall; to the cabin in the summer and have rung in many a New Year's together. And when we get together we can still feel Lindsay's quiet presence because I think a little piece of her lives in all of us. And we are blessed.Lindsay is one of the reasons that we are running. It may be too late to find a cure for Lindsay, but we also race for all of those whose lives will be turned upside down this year by the diagnosis of leukemia. We race to find a cure.
Until Next Time
Thursday, May 8, 2008
26.2
26.2 may not mean much to you, unless you're a runner. Then you probably know that 26.2 is the number of miles in a marathon. And that is exactly what we have begun training for. It won't be our first one (we ran the Twin Cities Marathon in 2001) and Janice said then if she ever did another one it would have to be for a good cause!
Well, a few weeks ago we joined a Team in Training team to train for the San Antonio marathon on November 16, 2008. Now for those not familiar with Team in Training, it is a team of people raising not only money, but also awareness for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society and are coming together to Race for a Cure!! Here is a picture with just a few of the team's members. Both of us are looking to raise over $4100. We both have set up donation pages that make it easy to give online. Click here for Steve's page; and here for Janice's page.
Our family has been personally affected by these diseases in the loss of 3 very special people, who I will share about in future posts, and who we are running in memory of. We also run in honor of a local 'hero' who we got to meet tonight.
Jared is a 6 year old, extremely energetic boy who was diagnosed with AML (Acute Myelogenous Leukemia) in August of 2007. He has been in the hospital most of these past 8 months receiving intensive chemotherapy. He is in remission now, and is home with his family planning on going fishing and camping this summer. You see him here with his 304 'bravery' beads that he got for every test; procedure; stick; poke; ambulance ride etc.. that he has been through since his diagnosis. (He is VERY proud of his beads!!) There is even a little bald head bead for when he lost his hair. (Click on the picture to enlarge it and get a closer look at Jared's beads....there are a lot of them!!)
As the front of our team t-shirts say "If you think training for a marathon is hard - try chemo- therapy!".
Stay tuned as we will update weekly.
Well, a few weeks ago we joined a Team in Training team to train for the San Antonio marathon on November 16, 2008. Now for those not familiar with Team in Training, it is a team of people raising not only money, but also awareness for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society and are coming together to Race for a Cure!! Here is a picture with just a few of the team's members. Both of us are looking to raise over $4100. We both have set up donation pages that make it easy to give online. Click here for Steve's page; and here for Janice's page.
Our family has been personally affected by these diseases in the loss of 3 very special people, who I will share about in future posts, and who we are running in memory of. We also run in honor of a local 'hero' who we got to meet tonight.
Jared is a 6 year old, extremely energetic boy who was diagnosed with AML (Acute Myelogenous Leukemia) in August of 2007. He has been in the hospital most of these past 8 months receiving intensive chemotherapy. He is in remission now, and is home with his family planning on going fishing and camping this summer. You see him here with his 304 'bravery' beads that he got for every test; procedure; stick; poke; ambulance ride etc.. that he has been through since his diagnosis. (He is VERY proud of his beads!!) There is even a little bald head bead for when he lost his hair. (Click on the picture to enlarge it and get a closer look at Jared's beads....there are a lot of them!!)
As the front of our team t-shirts say "If you think training for a marathon is hard - try chemo- therapy!".
Stay tuned as we will update weekly.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Prizes for Donations!
Here are a few items that I will be drawing for when I reach my half way point of $2050:
For the knitter*:
1. ‘Don’t Be Blue’ Sock Club kit - courtesy of The Loopy Ewe
Won by Nancy!
2. Ladigitessa sock kit from Yarnissma (Wollmeise yarn and sock pattern) - courtesy of anonymous
Won by Allison!
For the non-knitter:
1. $25.00 Applebees Gift Card - courtesy of Sumo our dog, who earns these by eating LOTS of Purina One Dog food!!
Won by my brother Greg!
Here are a few that I will be drawing for when I reach my Goal of $4100:
For the knitter:
1. Skein of Wollmeise - courtesy of The Loopy Ewe
2. Skein of Handspun by Lynn
This amazing yarn is handspun by my knitting Spring Fling friend, Lynn. It’s roving from The Dyeing Arts Dazzling Duo in Orchid Dream.
For the knitter or non-knitter:
1. Chevron Scarf in Team in Training Colors
2 $25.00 Applebees Gift Card - courtesy of Sumo our dog, who earns these by eating LOTS of Purina One Dog food!!
*(You have to understand that I am a knitter, and started a knitting blog way back when, so that is the reason for many of the prizes being geared towards knitters. Many of my online donations have come from the wonderful online community of knitters that I have become a part of!)
For the knitter*:
1. ‘Don’t Be Blue’ Sock Club kit - courtesy of The Loopy EweWon by Nancy!
2. Ladigitessa sock kit from Yarnissma (Wollmeise yarn and sock pattern) - courtesy of anonymous
Won by Allison!
For the non-knitter:
1. $25.00 Applebees Gift Card - courtesy of Sumo our dog, who earns these by eating LOTS of Purina One Dog food!!
Won by my brother Greg!
Here are a few that I will be drawing for when I reach my Goal of $4100:
For the knitter:1. Skein of Wollmeise - courtesy of The Loopy Ewe
2. Skein of Handspun by Lynn
This amazing yarn is handspun by my knitting Spring Fling friend, Lynn. It’s roving from The Dyeing Arts Dazzling Duo in Orchid Dream.For the knitter or non-knitter:
1. Chevron Scarf in Team in Training Colors
2 $25.00 Applebees Gift Card - courtesy of Sumo our dog, who earns these by eating LOTS of Purina One Dog food!!
*(You have to understand that I am a knitter, and started a knitting blog way back when, so that is the reason for many of the prizes being geared towards knitters. Many of my online donations have come from the wonderful online community of knitters that I have become a part of!)
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