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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Susan Calarco

Originally written on July 30, 2007:

My father spent 23 years in the Air Force while I was growing up. As a result, “home” never really stuck. We moved from place to place and I have never really been “from” anywhere. Because of this environment, I got to know my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins on more of a surface level growing up. They were simply the people who lived in New York that we would visit once or twice a year and on the rare occasion, they would make the trek to Nebraska or Ohio or North Dakota for a visit.

I was very satisfied with this relationship because I guess I did not know any differently. I grew up, went to college and law school, and then entered the Navy. I still lived the nomadic life and was again content to know my family from a bit of a distance.

However, in 2004, my mom’s brother, my uncle Doug was diagnosed with Leukemia. This devastating news suddenly brought my family closer than it had ever been. My cousin Laura–Doug’s daughter–began to keep me updated on his well-being and his progress. In early 2005 I deployed to Iraq. My updates from home were always appreciated, but Laura’s emails were the correspondence I could not wait to receive. While in Iraq, she told me of my uncle’s ups and downs and struggles and triumphs.

When I returned home from in late 2005, I came home to what I thought was great news–uncle Doug had received a bone marrow transplant and was on his way towards recovery. Unfortunately, in the end, he was not able to win his battle.

Just three days after Christmas in 2005, my uncle Doug passed away.

My first event with TNT was with the Rhode Island Chapter–I participated in the Philadelphia Triathlon in June 2006. On the day of the race, every single member of that side of my family, to include Doug’s wife and his three children, were there to cheer me on. It was more emotional than I had ever imagined it would be and I finally realized what it was like to be close to these members of my family.

While Doug’s loss has been hard on my family, I am grateful that it gave me the opportunity to connect with my cousin, and the rest of my family, in a way I had never known before.

Good things do come out of sometimes very difficult circumstances.

Thanks,

Susan

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Donna Marino

Last year I joined my good friend Denise on the route of the Marine Corp Marathon and ran 8miles with her. As I stood on the sidelines waiting to find her, I met a number of peoplecheering the runners and they all had one thing in common..they all said "What would possess someone to run 26.2 miles?"

Okay, maybe it's a because it's thier kind of thing, or simply because by joining upwith Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team In Training, I can raise money for a cause near anddear to my heart, and achieve a personal goal of running a marathon.

TNT is The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's largest fundraising program, bringing in over $73million this past year alone. Each participant in the program pledges to raise a certain amountof money during the 4-5 months they train for their event.

Every five minutes, someone in the United States learns that they have leukemia, lymphoma, ormyeloma, and every 10 minutes, a child or adult dies form one of these diseases. While more andmore people are becoming survivors, there is still no cure.

I won't be able to train for this alone, and I would be honored if you would help me. My goal isto raise $3300 by August 27. I invite you to be part of my goal.

I am training for a "doubleheader"… two events this fall: the Rock and Roll Half Marathon in Virginia Beach and the Marine Corp Marathon in Washington DC. All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia and lymphoma from taking more lives.

I'm completing this event in honor of all those who are battling blood cancers but more specifically in memory of my father, Dan DePasquale, who died of leukemia at the age of 43. He initially went to the doctor on the advice on my grandmother, who told him "his color wasn't right". This was Mother's Day, 1967; he died the following August. I was eight years old. My dad, as well as others battling this disease, are the real heroes on our team, and we need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - a cure!

Thanks for your support. See you at the finish line!

Donna

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Rachel Bonistalli

Originall written on July 20, 2007:

As I shared in my previous message, my cousin John Bonistalli is living with Leukemia. He wakes up each day like the rest of us with a smile for his wife and beautiful daughters and kind words for everyone, but has something a little extra weighing on him as he goes through his day -- he is fighting a battle to keep his Leukemia in remission. This is a battle that started on April 4, 2003 as John was proud to be smoke free for two years and his dear wife Dana was expecting their second child.

John had been fighting chronic sinus infections for several months and the doctor suspected it was a deviated septum so he had an appointment to check it and discuss repairing it. John shared "My doctor said I looked tired and he decided to run some routine blood work. I anticipated it would say I was, like usual, a little anemic. The blood work came back with an extremely high white cell count, but he didn't want to worry me so he ordered a second CBC. The results were not a fluke."

John continued, "I found myself just moments later that morning sitting in an oncologist's office with my mother by my side. Unfortunately my wife, Dana, was sadly sitting in another doctor's office at the same time -- her obstetrician's. She would soon learn that she was having a miscarriage. This would be our second loss. We had been so blessed to have a beautiful 2½ year old daughter (Isabella) and we hoped that someday we would be able to provide her with a sibling to share her life with. My mother and I were soon given the fateful news -- that I had Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML). By this time, Dana had joined us in the doctor's office and we all cried together. We were told that, without treatment, my life expectancy was 3 to 5 years."

That was John's dark day, but family and friends quickly came to John's aid and his best friend Chris gave him the phrase that helped him start his campaign against Leukemia "The rally flags are up, we are heading into battle." John was determined not to lie down and let cancer ruin his life.

Then light began to shine through the darkness. A new oral drug, approved in 2001, was showing tremendous results with CML patients. He soon began that drug, Gleevec. Within a year, John was in remission and we had a big party. In 2005, John and Dana were again blessed with new life in the arrival of Amelia (Mia). John's prognosis is with continued treatment with Gleevec and without unforeseen complications, he could maintain his remission for 40 years.
So, with my cousin in my heart and the many who can benefit from my efforts on my mind, I train on -- strides to save lives.

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