A message from Amanda Goble, our Team In Training Campaign Coordinator:
There are many of you who have taken Team In Training on as a very personal mission. You have seen friends and family members fight these diseases, and what you saw/seeing them go through is far more difficult than any training run or walk that will ever do. Some of you have even battled one of these diseases yourself. You have seen the worst that life has to offer and you are fighting back by doing something about it. This story was shared by a participant from this past Spring season but I think that his words ring true today as well:
Two weeks ago my Dad told me, that he also has pre-leukemia. So, they cannot operate on him for the lung cancer that he has, they have to treat it with radiation. Last Wednesday they took bone marrow out of two spots in his back to see if he had leukemia or lymphoma in his bones. My Mom said that he never yells, he did. Well, last Friday, they said the bone marrow, was "contaminate" from the chemo of treating the lymphoma, so they would have to take the bone marrow out of his sternum. So, they did that earlier this week, and the pre-leukemia is what they found.
We got more news about my Dad, yesterday. From the pre-leukemia that they found last week, they told him yesterday they will treat with dacogen, to fight the leukemia and build up his white blood cells and platelets. They aren't even going to worry about the lung cancer. This drug has been on the market since last summer. They said if this doesn't work, he has a year. It's going to work, just like the experimental drugs he has been on for the lymphoma. He is a strong man, and I can see it. It scares me to death.
My Dad, my hero: 11 yrs of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, 2-3 months emphysema, 2 months 1 cm of lung cancer, 1 day pre-leukemia. I can't be stopped, I am a running machine!! I am not a hero, I am just a person that really cares about helping others, especially when they can't help themselves.
Thanks again for being part of a society that keeps the best people in the world alive, like Markie Rodgers, David Wolovitz and my Dad.
The only reason that the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is able to provide funding for ground breaking research and for patient services is because of people like you. The thank you's need to be extended to each and every person who is working hard to raise money and who is waking up at 7:00 AM on a Saturday morning to run/walk 5, 7, 10 miles. You all deserve the thank you's.
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