Kristen Burke

I am running in memory of a friend from college. There are actually 6 of us training to run the Nike Women's Marathon in memory of Kelly.

On Mother's Day 2007, Kelly lost her eight year battle against Hodgkin lymphoma at age 36. Kelly graduated from Virginia Tech in 1993 and then went on to receive her Masters of Education at the College of William and Mary in 1994. Kelly taught second grade for one year and first grade for eight years in the Fairfax County (VA) Public School system. The years she taught were years doing what she loved best - working with children. Kelly was a beautiful, loving and inspiring person who always had a smile on her face and a passion to help others. A week each summer she worked as a counselor at Camp Fantastic, a camp for children with cancer. In addition, she tirelessly raised funds and awareness for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society by participating in several marathons and the annual Light the Night Walk.

Kelly was known for her smile and determination to beat her disease. She never complained nor gave up. When the doctors told her she had 2 – 3 months left to live, she responded "I'll see you in 4". We learned so much from Kelly but most importantly she taught us: Strength, Courage, Love, Determination, Patience, Peace and to BELIEVE. Kelly was an amazing person who touched so many lives.

Now it's the privilege of a group of Kelly's Virginia Tech friends to lessen the ache of our heavy hearts by challenging ourselves and raising money to honor her memory and support those currently battling a blood cancer. We are training to compete in the Nike Women's Marathon - a race Kelly had wanted to do. We have teamed up with Team in Training to raise awareness and funds for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma.

The following is a poem that Kelly wrote about the "Pros" of having cancer:

Pros

I've learned that I don't have to live alone in my own hell.
I've learned to accept help- and to ask for it as well.
I've learned that my loved ones feel just as helpless as I do.
I've learned from the wisdom of those sharing my experience that what I feel is nothing new.
I've learned that I have a lot to give.
I've learned that I have a lot of life left to live.
I've learned to prioritize the people and places I want to see.
I've learned to be less critical, especially of me.
I've learned I've an amazing amount of people in my life who truly care.
I've learned too, the ones who will really be there.
I've learned the genuine importance of my friends and family.
I've learned that I am stronger than I ever thought I could be.
I've learned that it's okay, not a fault to need someone.
I've learned that life is about people when all's said and done.
I've learned that with their support, the battle's not all uphill.
I've learned that this disease doesn't have to kill.
I've learned, in fact, that cancer Can be overcome.
I know it, because this time, I have won.

-Kelly Linderman


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Shannon Royce

A year ago I was recovering from six rounds of chemo for non-hodgkins follicular lymphoma. I was fortunate that we caught it in stage one and I was able to begin treatment quickly.

Going through chemo was a life altering experience. I will never forget going for my treatments and seeing folks who were clearly so much sicker than I. At two of my treatments, patients went into respiratory arrest and needed emergency attention. Even in my sickest moments, I had hope of feeling better soon. Some of the patients around me did not have that same hope.

One of the difficult side effects of chemo for me was that I could not even walk around the block with my husband without being winded and having heart palpitations. As a faithful exerciser most of my life, this was very frustrating. In the midst of this, I had a friend who trained with TNT on my behalf. She ran for me when I was struggling to even walk around the block.

This year, I am training for the Marine Corps Marathon on behalf of those who can't. It is a reminder to me of how much I have to be grateful for and how blessed I am to be alive.

I run with the hope that one day there will be a cure.

Shannon



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Bob Garman

We got involved with Team in Training 4 years ago in honor of Muriel's younger brother Gerard. He was in his early 40s when diagnosed with colon cancer - during treatment they found it had spread to his liver. After 18 month battle, he passed away leaving a wife and young daughter behind.

Year two I found out a fellow retired AF communicator, Lt Col Don Toenjes, was suffering from Mantle Cell Lymphoma and was getting experimental stem cell treatment. We became friends with him and his wife Norma and through their friends and family were able to raise a lot of money for TNT. Since then they have remained loyal donors. His cancer is in remission but still uncurable.

Year three I ran in honor of a deceased two year old from Leukemia (Calvin Keener) who was the son of two AF Majors stationed in St Louis and a 16 year old son of a friend of Norma and Don's who was still getting cancer treatment. His name was Andy Pickerel and him and his family lived in Iowa. Tragically, Andy passed away about 2 weeks before the VA Beach Half Marathon. His family had orange wristbands made for friends and family during his treatment and they were nice enough to send me ten for my teammates that year - the inscription read: BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS - Duet. 31:6 (AWP). For both VA Beach and Marine Corp Marathon I wore the purple TNT band for Calvin and the orange band for Andy - helped a lot when the next hill seemed a little steep or the weather was a little hot. My wife also became a more active TNT member by joining as a walker for Va Beach and doing her first endurance event ever!

This year I am running in honor of my Mom who is a two-time survivor of breast cancer and Muriel is still walking for her brother who she misses very much. She also manages a Curves gym and several of her members have friends and family fighting cancer.

Go Team,

Bob

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Sara Ward

Originally witten on August 8, 2007:

I felt very fortunate to spent time with the patients families at the TNT Picnic this past Saturday evening. I overheard that one little girl said she was looking forward to it all week. I met siblings of a little baby with leukemia. I am not sure if the baby is a boy or girl, but his or her siblings were so happy to see us and we sang Happy Birthday to Nathanial, who was turning Three yesterday - he was one very happy little boy!! These kids are in the hospital every day with their family and their time is not spent doing happy normal little kid things. I think it was great they had something fun to look forward to! Another little girl, Malika, loved the animal paper plates and little treats and she tried to share them with everyone! Another 13 year old boy, Donavan was there with his Dad. Donavan's 16 year old sister was in the hospital and his Mom was sleeping in her room. Ted, their father told me there were families who had it much much worse.

Other families, nurses and staff came in and out of the picnic. Everyone really appreciated the lovely picnic dinner set out for them - even the teenage girl who said something like "I couldnt eat all the fat in the frosted brownies" came back three times for more.....

I'll try not to go on and on like I am tempted to, but I just wanted to say that I felt so lucky that I was able to spend Saturday helping to get food together for this event. And I was so glad that I was able to be there at Georgetown and spend time with the families. They are special people and they are the reason that we get up so early and put in our mileage and raise our funds - to beat blood cancers!

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