Team Purple Spotlight: TNT Staff, Jennie Ellis, goes back to Cali...as a PARTICIPANT!

The ladies here at Team In Training do not hesitate to go above and beyond for LLS. We recently caught up with TNT Campaign Coordinator, Jennie Ellis, to discuss her walk (or rather, run) on the wild side as she embraces her inner participant and trains for the Rock 'N' Roll San Diego Marathon, taking place this June. With a strong athletic background and her mind on the mission, Jennie trains and fundraises for a cure. Watch out San Diego!



Jennie Ellis and other TNT staff and support staff are all smiles at
the Publix Georgia Marathon & Half Marathon 2013 finishing tent.
(Left to right: Aileen Bleach, Roberta McCunney,
Carey Garrett, Kimberly Williams, and Jennie Ellis)

What is your athletic background? Have you ever done one of these events before?

Growing up, I was always involved in some sort of sport/activity. You name it, I did it. However, I was heavily involved in competitive swimming for many years and ran cross country in high school. I have participated in several 5K’s and 10K’s, but I have never completed a marathon or half marathon before. So San Diego will be my first marathon experience!

Have you ever fundraised before? Are you nervous? 

This is my first experience with fundraising. While I have helped others fundraise, this will be the first time I am doing it on my own. It is a little nerve wracking, but mostly I am excited by the challenge and the opportunity to further support the LLS mission.

What motivated you to sign up?

My aunt, Kimberly Williams, is a coach with TNT. She and her husband Ken have participated in many marathon/half marathon events with TEAM and have always encouraged me to sign up for one, but it never felt like the right time. When I first started working with TNT, I staffed our Atlanta Nike and Chicago marathon teams. I had the opportunity to travel to San Francisco with the Nike team and the entire event weekend was a huge inspiration to me. I was so proud of my participants, and so inspired and motivated by all they had accomplished. I knew I wanted that feeling, so I decided to sign up for San Diego.

How long have you been with LLS?

I have kind of run the gamut with our LLS campaigns! I began working for LLS part time in May of 2011 as a recruiter on the Light The Night campaign, then received another part time position as a Campaign Assistant for our Special Events Department before starting to work full time with Team In Training in May 2012. I have really enjoyed learning the aspects of our different campaigns at LLS and am loving working for TNT.

What is your favorite aspect of being a TNT participant?

The thing I enjoy most is getting to see this campaign from the other side, the participant side. It really helps to know what the campaign is all about, why it is so special to our participants, and what makes them keep coming back. You get the opportunity to meet such amazing people and to hear their stories. It is definitely what keeps me going and what motivates me to go that extra mile when it seems impossible. While I have no personal connection to the mission, the participants and patients I have worked with are my inspiration. You know what you are doing is making a huge difference in people’s lives. I feel so fortunate to be able to give back to them by fundraising for LLS.

What goals do you have for the season?

Ideally, I’d like to finish the marathon in under 5 hours. However, I will be happy just to cross that finish line (preferably with my arms in the air and not a horrible look on my face). I have this fear that something will happen the day before the race, like I’ll break my toe or something. So finishing is a definite! Also, I would love to be able to raise at least $500 over my fundraising commitment, which is $3,200. The main goal here is to support the LLS mission so our patients can have access to better treatments and services, and we can eventually find a cure for these diseases. I know every dollar that is raised is critical, so the more that I can contribute towards that overarching goal, the better!

Way to go Jennie !

 

You Only Live Twice by Vera Lim



Vera receiving treatment in 2012.



There are many things in life that we never imagine having to do or having to go through. For me, a cancer diagnosis was one of them. After three months of visiting doctors for what was initially thought to be a cough, a cold, bronchitis, pneumonia, and then lingering pneumonia, I was convinced that the chest pains and piercing back pains were good indicators that my illness was not rooted in my respiratory system. Eventually, on January 17, 2012 I was diagnosed with Stage IV Hodgkin's Lymphoma, NOS type. After six months of chemotherapy and one month of radiation therapy, in September of 2012, I was weakly but happily placed in remission.

Even before beginning chemotherapy, I wanted to do something to help other cancer patients. I suppose you could attribute it to the health professional in me, being that it is my career field. I found that many of the trials and tribulations of chemo, or just dealing with cancer period, are usually addressed quite poorly by the medical team. It's not to say that they don't care, but they just don't have the time. This is especially the case at large institutions like Emory Winship: great and incredibly developed, intelligent faculty and staff, terrible wait times and very short sessions with your doctors. These findings led me to begin researching and blogging about my journey, as well as incorporating helpful tips for other cancer patients.

My blog, and my drive to help other cancer patients, was taken to a new level when I joined Team in Training (TNT). One of the other things that most people don't really think about doing in their lifetime is participating in a half-marathon, full-marathon, or a triathlon. This is especially the case when you're just two months out of treatment. I've always been...a unique type of person. After my diagnosis, I incorporated walking into my "treatment". Initially, it was purely to combat the fatigue that would come during the later months of chemotherapy. Looking back, I realize that not only was my walking the "first step" towards my involvement with TNT and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, but also towards a tremendous cause- giving back to the cancer community.

I didn't think that I could do it. I hadn't heard of many cancer survivors doing something like a half-marathon so early into remission. However, the same motivation that led me to start my blog was not forgotten. I would not abandon my drive to give back to the cancer community, because it was a promise that I had made to myself during treatment. So often we are caught up in our own lives and our own battles that we fail to see the bigger picture. We fail to see the others who are also struggling along the way. This past November, I joined my first half-marathon with the Georgia North Fulton-Forsyth TNT team and turned my blog into my running blog.

I had never fundraised before in my life, and I never imagined that I could raise over $3000. For one, I am a young adult and the majority of my friends are "poor" working young adults as well. Somehow (and I thank God for this), the funds were provided and I met my minimum. I never ran this much before in my life, and most definitely not with a chemo-riddled body. My joints are stiffer, I’m slower, recovery takes longer... but my team is awesome...-er.

The reason I love my team is because they are not only super supportive, but they keep me accountable. From the managers to the coaches, the weekly emails, and the Facebook page posts... it all keeps me driven to run. And if I can't run, I walk. Accountability keeps me focused on the cause, and the cause gives me reason to do one more good thing in what I love to call "my second life".



Vera pictured at a social event in October 2012 with friend, Rebecca, one month after being placed in remission!



There is a new slang term "YOLO", that claims “You Only Live Once”. Personally, "YOLT", “You Only Live Twice” is my truth. If you don't make life count the first time, well...for many of us there just may be a second chance.

Go Team.

 Vera Lim is currently fundraising and training with Team in Training for Nike Women's Marathon Half-DC taking place in April 2013.

Survivor checks “run a marathon” off her bucket list. by Amy Cosgrove

Amy pictured at a recent GTS.

In June 2002 (so exactly ten years ago), I was diagnosed with Stage IV Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. I initially went to my primary doctor because I thought I had the flu. It took over six weeks and a TON of appointments with different specialists and dozens and dozens of different tests to figure out that I had Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Honestly, the ‘not-knowing’ seemed much worse than actually hearing the diagnosis. Plus, I was really sick from the cancer – I had lost a lot of weight for no reason, had terrible night sweats and was horribly exhausted. Without a doubt, though, the worst symptom was the itching. It literally felt like my bones itched, and no lotion, medicine, nothing relieved it. However, my oncologist told me two things that first day that kept me from falling apart when he told me I had cancer. The first was that Hodgkin’s was one of the most treatable cancers of all and that the survival rate for someone (even in Stage IV) was very good. And, second, that the treatment protocol would actually relieve some of the symptoms I was having. And, that while the chemo and radiation would have their own side effects, I could expect to feel a lot better within my first two treatments. Two days after I got my diagnosis, I had my first chemotherapy treatment. And, by the end of the first month, the itching, night sweats and all the other symptoms were gone. And, I had a new hat collection. Ultimately, I had six months of chemotherapy and 21 radiation treatments. Near the end of chemotherapy I had to meet with a bone marrow transplant specialist, but fortunately the chemo and radiation worked and I was able to avoid a transplant. In March 2003, Dr. Saker, my oncologist, told me I was in remission. I’ve gone back every year and am happy to report I’ve been in remission for over 9 years now.

I first got involved with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society during this time. When I was first diagnosed, I scoured the internet for information. The most helpful source for me was LLS. They had literally every answer I wanted or needed to know. Plus a lot of new things I hadn’t even thought to ask. My oncologist was absolutely amazing, but having a second resource with LLS was so comforting. When I was a few weeks into my chemo treatments, my colleagues at work (I worked for a small division of Philips Electronics at the time) asked me if they could put a team together to participate in The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Light the Night Walk in my honor. Of course, I was honored and humbled and said yes. Except that they set a very lofty goal to raise $10,000. I thought they were crazy, but really enjoyed the whole spirit of the season. One of my favorite memories from that time was the day that they held the final event at work before the walk. It was a day where they were going to let all of us know how much we’d raised. I walked in that morning to find that everyone (EVERYONE) at work was wearing a hat. (After I lost my hair, I couldn’t get the hang of wigs, so I only wore one once and switched to hats immediately.) Anyway, everyone, including the Division CEO, was wearing a hat that day. It still humbles me and makes me tear up to think about it. When they announced later in the day that they’d raised not $10,000, but $30,000, I was so overwhelmed. We had a blast at the LTN walk. And, again, it’s still one of my favorite memories.

Several years later, the year that I turned 40, I decided it was time to check “run a marathon” off my bucket list. Since I’m a terrible runner, and because I’ve always supported other Team In Training runners, I signed up with the Virtual Team In Training to run the 2010 Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathon. I had a blast, and even though I had expected to check it off my list and move on to the next thing, the minute I crossed the finish line, I knew I would do another one. Now, I work for Deloitte Consulting, and Deloitte has TNT teams all over the country at its various locations. And, during the Fall 2012 season, Deloitte expects to cross the million dollar mark with TNT – meaning, Deloitte TNT’ers will have raised a total of more than $1,000,000 by the Fall races for LLS. (We’re at over $950,000 right now.) So, I signed up with the Deloitte Fall team and couldn’t resist the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco. Who can resist getting a Tiffany necklace from a California firefighter after a 26-mile run?

I’m so grateful to be a survivor. I’m grateful to my doctors, my friend, my family. And, I’m so grateful that there is an organization like The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society that works to support people who are in the position I was in 10 years ago, but that also works to fund research to eliminate the need for it.

Amy Reeves Cosgrove is currently training with Team In Training for this Fall's Nike women's Marathon. Amy is a Human Capital Manager with Deloitte Consulting. Originally from Thomasville in South Georgia, she's been in the Atlanta area for more than 20 years.

Surviving and Thriving by Dan Gennari

Dan and his friend, Joe

It was March 16, 2010, and I was panting like a German Shepherd on a hot July day, but I was standing straight up, at the top of a snow covered mountain in Colorado. Approximately 6 months before, I was seated in a big recliner, a clear tube running from an IV bag into my chest port and wondering if I would ever enjoy skiing the way I always had after 16 doses of bleomycin and other toxic chemo drugs had been pumped into my veins. I had followed my two friends off the top of the chairlift as they unclipped their skis and began hiking to the peak at around 13,000 feet. The climb took about 20 minutes but felt like hours to me. After pausing a few minutes to catch my breath and take a few pictures of the moment, we all clipped back into our bindings and plowed into the powder of the open bowl, and then the glade of trees. It was a liberating experience for me.


That was when I knew, or thought I knew that I could overcome the evils of cancer and continue to live a thriving life. I knew that despite the things I had lost and the pain I had suffered, Hodgkins Lymphoma was only a part of my life and that I still had unlimited potential to succeed in pursuing my dreams. I also knew then, that it was time I responded to one of those numerous purple brochures and postcards hitting my mailbox and trying to recruit me for Team In Training. That day on the mountain renewed my confidence in myself and my body and I was ready to take on the world. Before I would get that chance though, I would have to take on cancer once again.

After only an eight month break, scans revealed that my mediastinal mass was growing aggressively, and my doctor recommended beginning salvage treatment in preparation of a stem cell transplant. I was devastated that I would not get to train for the century ride, because I think I wanted it for myself, as much as I wanted to help the Society. I wanted to validate the feeling of health and recovery that I felt on the mountain in March. I had already started my fundraising, and decided I would go ride with the TNT team on their first cycling ride of the summer, even though I knew it would be my only ride with them.

Although my memory of that afternoon high in the Rockies is as vivid as if it happened yesterday, the summer that followed is a fuzzy patchwork of recollected moments and feelings. I was in and out of the hospital several times, and visited the clinic almost daily from June through August. I finally completed my stem cell transplant process in mid September and checked out of the hospital for the last time.

I got through my first 100 days post transplant with several colds and a brush with pneumonia, and I am starting to feel good again. I started to ride my bike at the tail end of December and joined the TNT Georgia Chapter once again and will be training for the America's Most Beautiful Bicycle Ride in Lake Tahoe this June.

Throughout my 2 year cancer experience, I have received an incredible outpouring of goodwill from friends, colleagues, family, neighbors and even strangers. So, with the fundraising minimums of TNT looming, I am hesitant to once again ask for help from those who have already done so much for me. Instead, I have partnered with The Ski Channel, to premier their documentary, "The Story" in Alpharetta (an Atlanta suburb).

The film will be shown on February 17, at Studio Movie Grill and tickets cost $25.00 per person. The $25.00 ticket gets you admission to the movie, food and drinks, and benefits The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. If you or someone you know are interested in supporting my fundraising for the Society, please link to the ticket sales portal through my blog site, http://www.dangennari.com/. If you cannot attend the film, it is also possible to make a direct TNT donation through that website link.

Dan Gennari is riding with TNT for the 2011 America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride at Lake Tahoe, NV this coming June. Dan, you inspire us and thank you for sharing your story! TNT'ers, please support "The Story" movie screening on February 17th.

New Year Brings New Language by Dani

Dani and her daughter at the 2010 Light The Night Walk

Last year’s language was the jargon of doctors and hospitals. Even the joy of discovering we were once again pregnant was overshadowed by the fear of whether or not my body would be capable of handling the stress. Last year’s language was that of a soldier in the trenches; attempting to lighten the situation by looking up and saying “well at least the sun is out.” My words of last year were my saving grace that created a language that brought me catharsis and human connection.

I am grateful that we have the opportunity to change our voice and create new words, new language, and new life. I look towards this year so differently than I did the last. Last year I was scared of what stood before me. Our future was uncertain. This year I have no more answers than I did last year; nor guarantees of anything. What we have is hope, faith and a little good news to set us on our path.

As the New Year rolled in I was overwhelmed by emotion. I looked to my future and I saw my husband and I growing old together, two little children playing with one another, family dinners, date nights where Mike and I try not to talk about some cute thing the kids did but just cannot seem to refrain, scrapped knees, first bikes, broken bones, broken hearts, family pets, bedtime stories, family vacations, “five more minutes,” road trips, kindergarten, grade school, high school, college visits, caps and gowns, weddings and more babies. I looked to my future and I saw my loving husband by my side, my beautiful children, my family, my friends. I saw hope and joy. I did not see cancer. Over the last year and a half, I often wondered if there would ever be a time when cancer was not a thread that wove its way through my every thought. The moment finally came.

I am sure that in the months and years to come, as PET scans and blood tests are due, there will be a breath of fear that grazes my cheek like a soft breeze. However, in this moment I was not only cancer free but free of cancer. They say it takes the body a year to recover from chemotherapy. They do not pontificate on the time it takes one’s brain or soul to recover from the experience of cancer. This hope for the future was my first real indication the healing has truly begun. The fortuitous thoughts coupled with prenatal hormones were too much for one healing soul to bear and I laughed as the warm tears streamed down my cheeks. Entering the New Year with tears of joy; I can think of no better language.

Happy New Year to you all and I hope your 2011 is filled with the language of love, peace and laughter, thank you for your continued support and love.

Dani, a non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma survivor, was the 2010 Summer triathlon team Honored Hero. Thank you for sharing with us Dani. You are our inspiration!

What A Difference A Year Makes by Karen Cole

Karen Cole leaping for joy at the 2010 Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco.

Like many of you, I had received those aspirational Team in Training brochures in the mail – the ones with pictures of triumphant athletes, proudly wearing their race numbers affixed to their purple Team jerseys. I remember thumbing through them thinking: these people just ran and biked a very large number of miles, yet they still look glowing and fabulous. Could I bottle this in a face cream, I wondered? I always just stacked those brochures in a “I’ll-get-to-that-one-day” pile.


Then that “one day” came suddenly last year in September, and I went digging through my pile. This time I was driven by a promise I wanted to make to my oldest and dearest friend. Evie was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma just a few short weeks before her wedding last October. Talk about the highest of highs, and the lowest of lows. For Evie’s bridal shower, the plan was to not give her gifts that we purchased, but instead give meaningful expressions or tokens of friendship and love. Driven by fear and a sense of helplessness for what to do, I decided that my gift to Evie was doing a race in her honor and raising money for LLS.

As I sit here writing, it dawns on me that this week marks my one year involvement with TNT. I saved my “Welcome to Team In Training” email and I recently opened it and a smile came across my face. The person who opened that email exactly a year ago was, lets just say, a little frightened wondering how the heck she was going to fundraise and run more than…well, to her mailbox. I remember driving home from the information meeting thinking, what have I done?! But the email I received the next day confirmed I had indeed signed myself up for my first race, the ING half marathon on March 21, 2010. It was official and in bold letters, so it was true.

Opening that same email today, I feel a huge sense of accomplishment and pride. Little did I know, I would actually run WAY past my mailbox and exceed my fundraising goals. My Team in Training journey this year includes completing three half marathons, one marathon and mentoring a team of new participants. Whew! Evie has been my inspiration through it all, propelling me farther than I thought was even possible. She’s still battling lymphoma, so I keep going for her putting good TNT vibes into the universe.

As the winter TNT season is winding down, and the participants I’m helping to mentor are achieving their goals, it’s hard to believe I was in their exact running shoes just a year ago. I was with my mentees at the ZOOMA half marathon at Chateau Elan a few weekends ago, and it was so awesome to see the excitement of race day through their eyes and all the hard work pay off. While I know to a lot of veteran TNTers, one year maybe isn’t a lot, but it feels like I’ve been wearing purple forever!

Well, a year later I am still sort of wondering about that miracle face cream – but on second thought…nah, I don’t need it. I’m wearing my own post-race glow.

Karen Cole has been busy with Team In Training in 2010 having finished the Nike Women's Marathon with the TEAM back in October and even more recently having acted as mentor for the ZOOMA Atlanta Half Marathon TEAM. As she puts it, it's almost as if she's been wearing purple forever. Follow her blog at http://www.teampurpletrain.blogspot.com/. Thanks Karen for sharing and for being a part of Team In Training!

Honored Heroes, Jill, Dani and Lyndon Inspire

Below you will read several first hand perspectives from Team In Training Honored Heroes, Jill, Dani and Lyndon. The first is Jill's speech to a room full of TNT triathletes as they prepared to tackle the TriLatta Triathlon a couple of months ago. The second is an email from Dani to the Fall Season triathlon teams and the last is an email Lyndon sent to the Wilson 100 TNT cycling team. Prepare to be inspired! Thank you Jill, Dani and Lyndon.

Jill and Dani with the entire TriLatta triathlon team. Jill is cross legged
on the front left and Dani is in the white top in the front row.

Jill's Speech at the Tri-Latta Triathlon Inspiration Dinner on June 12, 2010

Welcome all the TNT Tri-athletes and athletic supporters (I’ve always wanted to say that!)

My name is Jill Powers and I’ve been invited to be your Honored Hero Speaker for this evening’s festivities. I’m a Non- Hodgkin’s Follicular Lymphoma Survivor and -- with your help -- I will continue to fight and one day I hope to live “Lymphoma Free” without the threat of the cancer coming back or developing another cancer as a side effect. Let’s just eradicate the crap out of cancer all together!!!

Let me share with you a little bit about what TNT means to me. I started participating in TNT events in late 2004 all because my sister, Annette, signed up for the Vancouver ½ Marathon in my honor shortly after I was diagnosed. This was one way she felt she could help me in my battle. I was so charged by her ambition, that I signed up as well for the Alaska ½ Marathon, which I completed in June 2005. Since then, I’ve become what I call “a TNT Junkie!” I can’t seem to get enough. It’s not about the events themselves or the challenges (ok maybe, a little,) but it’s about the mission, people, and family that I have made through my TNT journey – TNT just seems to be my kind of “Group Therapy.”

“Group Therapy” – you think I’m joking – but it’s no joke. TNT is the most positive place I could have put myself on this lifelong frustrating journey in the blood cancer battle. You see, my cancer is not curable. At least not today anyway. How many times will I have to make it to the treatment finish line? I have been through chemo and remission once…. I’ve already been there, done that and now I’m starting the journey all over again in July as a patient in a clinical trial.

I will be relocating to Houston, TX in July for 2-3 months for a clinical trial at MD Anderson Cancer Center and you can bet on it that TNT will be my “group therapy” while I am there. Keep your fingers crossed that it works. I’m doing my best to keep physically & mentally healthy so I won’t have to venture in to the land of a Bone Marrow Transplant any time soon.

You should be proud to know that the money you raise through TNT helps fund research and trials, like the one I will be doing.

So on the eve of this event , whether it’s your 1st or your 11th TNT event like me; be proud and hold your head up high (ok, not for the swim part unless spotting) and know that you are making a difference in the lives of many!! You may not have had a personal connection to blood cancers when you started your training 4 months ago, but I’m sure that’s changed now.

It always amazes me to hear the stories people share when you reach out to do something good for others. You learn so much not only about yourself, but about how small the world is and how connected we all are. Cancer is not picky; no one escapes this life without knowing someone who has it or is personally affected by it.

People tell me they are amazed by my attitude towards life & my cancer - let me tell you I’ve got “TUDE” and I’m sure that’s what gets me through sometimes or maybe it’s my stubbornness, but I’m going to kick cancer’s butt as many times as it takes! No pity party here! Move on with life, live it, take chances, and make the most of it. Just LIVE and enjoy the little moments as well as the big ones. And all of you help make it possible for me to have this attitude.

I am proud to call all of you teammates & more importantly teammates in the battle against Blood Cancers. I wish I would be able to see all of your shiny/salty faces as you cross the finish line tomorrow, but I think it will be the other way around; you will probably be waiting for me. As my Georgia Team can attest, I am pretty pokey. But I will finish with a smile on my face and a hug for each and every one of you! You are all rockstars and heroes in my book!!

Tomorrow morning as you get up early, correction-very early, enjoy every minute of the day! Even when you think you can’t go any further and want to give up – don’t – you’ve trained for this – you’ll get to the finish line!!

Again, many thanks for the millions of us whose lives are touched by the struggle with cancer. Every stroke you swim, mile you ride & run or walk tomorrow is one mile closer to a cure!!!!

One final note – I would like to personally dedicate my event tomorrow to Dani, the Georgia Chapter’s Honored Hero. She joins us this weekend with her family to celebrate life. Dani is currently in treatment and I wish her a long and happy life filled with love, laughter, health and only good memories of her cancer journey. Yes, there can and will be good, if not great memories.

Now go out there and kick some TNT Butt!!! GO TEAM!!!! ~ Jill

Dani's email sent to the TNT Triathlon Team on August 25, 2010

After the first week of classes, I am trying to go back to regular life.  After practically falling apart in my first class, and actually falling apart in my second class; I am beginning to realize that this year really happened.  I guess I thought that I may wake up some day and Ashton Kutcher would be there with a megaphone and a trucker hat telling me I had been punked.  Alas, I don’t think I will find Ashton in my bedroom any morning (damn) and this really did happen. 

I drove home from class, wondering if I had any business trying to help anyone considering my own current state of hysteria.  If a graduate level class and a simple assignment to state my fears can produce such emotional unrest perhaps I am only suited to cook dinner and knit blankets.  I daydream about becoming a Stepford wife, with no emotions, then remember that they all had long, beautiful hair and quickly rejoin reality. 

I am realizing there is no going back after cancer.  It is now a part of who I am.  It has changed the way I view the world and interact with people. I am no longer the same person I was, I am trying so hard to get back to who I was, to move on and away from this year, but perhaps I just cannot.  Perhaps, I am a different person now and I simply have to pick up and move forward, discovering myself all over again. 

I find myself getting angry; did I really spend a year kicking this thing physically just to turn around and have to process things emotionally?  Can we just be done?  I am sick of the word cancer, I am sick of cancer.  I am angry that my family and the family of so many others have been put through hell.  I am angry that I will forever live in fear that the cancer may come back in me or in someone I love.  I am scared that there will never be a day that cancer does not touch for the rest of my life.  I AM OVER CANCER.

Then I hear my beautiful daughter shrill from behind me and I am reminded, ever so quickly, what this is truly all about.  I am one of the lucky ones who get to be sick of cancer.  I am one of the lucky ones who have survived thus far.    Each breath I take is a gift, each day I have is another victory.

So I have traded my combat boots for flip-flops and I move about the day, trying to navigate the best I can.  I am reminded that I am no different from any other person on this planet; I do the best I can each day with the information and strength I have at the moment.

I guess, for all who are willing, I am welcoming you to join me on the journey back to life.  The journey after a cancer free diagnosis but not quite free of cancer.  The beauty of this process is that it is so cathartic for me; the fact that someone reads it is simply frosting.  Writing this stuff out, processing through and then sending it out to the universe (or cyberspace) is the most healing thing I do.  Thanks for loving us and praying for us!  We love each of you! ~ Dani

Lyndon

Lyndon's email sent to the TNT Wilson 100 Cycling Team on August 23, 2010

I'll be getting my second bone marrow transplant on Tuesday, August 31. The good news is, my 100 days of seclusion while my immune system rebuilds will be over in December, in plenty of time for the next cycling season. 100 days, like 100 miles, will go by one at a time, except for those parts where I'm totally in a daze and don't even realize how far I've gone. I think you know you're a cyclist when the last 20 miles get to be the bittersweet conclusion of months of preparation with the team instead of "Oh my god I'm not sure I can go 20 more miles..."

I'm not usually one to make a fuss, but if you want to follow my progress, look me up on http://www.caringbridge.com/. Where it says "Visit a website," enter my name, lsilloway.

To those who are riding this weekend's Century, may the wind be at your back, the gravel off the road, the dogs behind their fences, and the Gatorade cool and sweet like southern iced tea at a fine BBQ joint with red plaid plastic tablecloths. ~ Lyndon

A Family Affair: Maureen's 20 Years of Being Cancer-Free by Genie Quinn

Flash back to twenty years ago… My daughter Maureen, who was 10 at the time, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. After two years of chemo and then three weeks of radiation therapy she was considered in remission. Out of the ashes of that horrible time our family has risen like a phoenix to a new life. From bitterness to joy we have progressed. It seems such a dichotomy that joy can come from sadness but it does. Maureen’s illness changed what was important to our family. We faced some scary times and came out of them stronger and closer.

Fast forward… As the years progressed we stayed a very close family. As a group we were keenly aware of the fragility of life and celebrated each other every chance we could get. Then in 2002, Maureen and her sister Kristen got a card in the mail from Team In Training of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and our family life mission took yet another turn. We found an organization where we could make a difference using our passion to fight cancer. Maureen and Kris completed that marathon, oh so many years ago, and we were all hooked.

Since 2002, as a family, we have completed many TNT events. They include marathons, triathlons, half-Ironman triathlons, and century rides. Also, during this time we have taken the LLS Mission to a new level by speaking at TNT meetings about “the Mission” and how anyone participating in a TNT event can truly make a difference in the lives of cancer patients. We have done “water stop” duties for group training sessions, and lugged change to CoinStar for Pennies for Patients.

However, the jewel in our family’s crown will come this TNT summer season when Maureen, Matt (her husband), my husband Jim, and I will ride together with the cycle team at Lake Tahoe for the America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride to celebrate life, 20 more years of it. Maureen’s sister Kris will be there cheering us on (she is injured and needs recovery time). We will celebrate the love of a family that has gotten us through good times and bad, and in thanksgiving for people who both do events and contribute to events for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. You are making a difference. Maureen is alive today due to research into drugs that could kill cancer cells. That research is still going on thanks to funds raised by Team In Training. As my family and I traverse the many hills of Tahoe, we will be thankful for all that we have and for a mission so special in this world. We are one lucky family to be able to help make a difference, to have found Team In Training, to ride with people who care, and to know people who give from the heart.

One lucky lady, Genie Quinn

Genie Quinn, Jim Quinn, Kris Quinn, Maureen Davidson Quinn and Matt Davidson are all long time Team In Training Georgia Chapter alumni and together have participated in countless events with the Team and raised thousands of dollars for LLS. From all of us at the LLS Georgia Chapter office, we'd like to wish them all a wonderful adventure in Lake Tahoe and we celebrate Maureen's 20 years and counting of being cancer free. Thank you to all of you!

If you're inspired by the Quinns to join the TEAM, visit www.teamintraining.org/ga.