My Fundraising Page

Hello everyone and thank you for visiting my Team In Training home page. For those of you who know me you know my love of the outdoors and pushing myself through activities such as hiking, kayaking, and swimming. I have even brought several of you along on my little adventures and am lucky that I am still able to call you my friends even though I was oblivious to the pain a five hour hike over the rocky terrain of Pennsylvania would cause a person who never really experiences such activities. Well, I am here to tell you that I am about to embark on my greatest adventure yet and all I am asking is for your support. I have joined with Team In Training to do the Memphis In May Triathlon in order to raise funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. My initial interest in Team In Training came from my desire to join a group to train with for an athletic event. However, halfway through my first information meeting I became hooked for a much more important reason. I learned that every five minutes someone new is diagnosed with one of the blood cancers leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease, or myeloma. Even more important, I learned how the funds raised through Team In Training is used in the fight against these blood cancers. The society uses its funds for research, patient services, education, and advocacy. Closest to my heart is the services provided to patients and their families from support groups to direct financial aid. I was then supremely impressed by the example they gave of real results obtained through research that had been mainly funded through Team In Training. Less than ten years ago the life expectancy of a person diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia was three to five years. Today due to the drug Gleevac a person just has to take this pill once a day in order to normalize their blood counts.

So, I am asking you to support me in my efforts to raise funds to help find a cure. For my part I will be racing in the Memphis In May Triathlon. This is an olympic distance triathlon where I will be swimming .9 miles in open water, biking 25 miles, and running 6.2 miles. OUCH!!!! It is going to be difficult but I am determined to cross the finish line in honor of all people who are fighting this disease, have lost the battle, and those yet to be diagnosed whether I do it on my feet or on my hands and knees. This race will take me 32.1 miles total. So why not donate:

$4700 The minimum I must raise. 75% of this goes directly to the society and only 25% goes to paying for our event. Everything over the minimum goes to the society. My personal goal is $5000.

$642 $20 for every mile

$321 $10 for every mile

$300 $100 for each event (swim, bike, run)

$150 The number of times during the race I'll be dreaming of sitting on the couch stuffing my face with cookies and watching Bones.

$100 The percentage of people we never want to have to lose the fight against these cancers again.

$50 It's at least worth this much to see me suffer as I have made some of you suffer.

$32 A dollar for each full mile I'll cover.

Any amount is extremely helpful to the cause and greatly appreciated.

Also, all donations are tax deductible.

You can easily make a credit card donation on this website and receive your tax deduction information automatically or if you are more comfortable donating by check you can mail it to

Joanne McCole

720 Preston Ave

Bryn Mawr, Pa 19010

Make checks payable to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. When your donation has been processed the office will then mail you your tax deduction form.

After making a donation of your own the next most important way you could help me in my efforts to raise funds is to pass this website along to anyone you think may be interested. Tell family, your friends and worst enemies, your dentist or podiatrist, your coworkers, folks at your gym, your therapist and his or her therapist, parents at the PTA meetings or work it into discussion at your book club or poker game..... you get the point.

Lastly, if you know someone who has been diagnosed with cancer, I would love to race in their honor. You can email me their name at jxm634@gmail.com. I intend to have them represented with me somehow on race day along with our personal team heroes even if I simply write their names on a piece of paper and keep it with me during the bike and run.

Thank you very much.

Joanne McCole