TEAM MO CHUISLE

(pronounced “muh khishla”)

David von Ebers

Jennifer von Ebers

Together, there’s no telling what we can do. As a Team, we can combine efforts to save lives.

The Irish phrase mo chuisle means “my heart” or “my pulse,” and it’s a phrase that’s used to refer to someone dear to you. In our case, Mo Chuisle is Dave’s mom, Margaret Mary Durkin von Ebers, who passed away on November 30, 2010 at the age of 86 of complications from myelodisplastic syndrome, or MDS, a blood cancer sometimes called pre-leukemia. MDS is one of the many blood and bone marrow diseases the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society supports through fundraising, research and advocacy.

Throughout different cities and towns people are coming together to create separate teams to participate in a sports endurance event all with one common goal to honor and benefit all individuals battling blood cancers. Members of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training will be creating teams, large and small, that will be participating in sports events across the country. They will be raising funds to help find cures and more effective treatment for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma. As a team, we can accomplish great things towards cures for blood cancers.

In our case, we are veterans of two marathons with Team in Training (Chicago 2005 and 2006), and Jennifer also ran the 2007 Chicago Distance Classic with the Team. Our interest in the Team in Training mission stems from a number of personal experiences with blood cancers. In fact, Dave’s Uncle Bernard Durkin was diagnosed with leukemia as a teenager in the 1920s. Back then, the diagnosis was a certain death sentence – there was little that could be done for the patient other than to provide comfort during his or her last days. Later, a friend and swimming teammate of Dave succumbed to leukemia in 1979, during the summer after their junior year in high school. In 1996, Dave’s uncle Don von Ebers was diagnosed with leukemia at about age 70, and passed away the following January. And then just a little over a year ago, Mo Chuisle, Margaret von Ebers (whom Dave likes to refer to as “My Sainted Irish Mother”) was diagnosed with MDS, which, in younger, healthier patients ordinarily is treatable. But given her age and overall health, the treatment course would not have provided her much quality of life, and would only have extended her life by a short period of time. So, electing to forego treatment, she passed away a few months after the diagnosis.

And that brought us back to Team in Training, this time to train for the Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon which will take place at the home of Dave’s undergraduate and law school alma mater … and on his 50th birthday too!

Please consider making a donation in honor of Mo Chuisle. We greatly appreciate it.

Meanwhile, you can track Dave’s progress on his running blog, Running … From Chicago, and you can likewise follow Jenn’s food and cooking blog, Slim Shopppin’, for updates, recipes and excellent nutritional information.

And for more about the life of Mo Chuisle, see Dave’s post “Herself.”

Thank you!