Our Team: Janda, Jen, Autumn

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San Francisco here we come!!!

Currently I'm training to participate in the Nikes Women's Marathon in San Francisco this October as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training. I am blessed enough to be joined in this endeavor by two of my sisters, Janda and Autumn. All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. We are completing this event in honor of my sisters boyfriend, Ryan Rhea, my father, and all individuals who are battling cancer. These people are the real heroes on our team, and we need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - a cure!

Please make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance LLS's mission.

I hope you will visit my web site often. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress. Thanks so much for your support!

Go Team Rhea!

Jennifer Harris

6/6 Update

DAD: Underwent surgery earlier this year to remove his prostate. The doctors couldn't get to it due to scar tissue from an accident he was involved in several years ago. Plan B was initiated and he received a hormone shot to the prostate with the hopes of shrkinking it. He has now begun radiation treatments daily and will receive around 45, finishing near the end of July.

RYAN: Ryan completed his 8 chemo treatments in May. A recent PET scan showed that the chemo was effective in greatly reducing the tumors! He will now move on to radiation treatments. This is GREAT news!!

JEN'S TRAINING: My training is going well. TNT is fabulous and I feel confident that I will be prepared for the race come October. My long run is currently up to 6 miles, and I am logging around 15+ miles a week, plus cross-training on my bike once a week. I will run a 10K on June 7 in Wheaton to further prepare me for race day!

7/15 Update

DAD: I saw my dad earlier this month. He is nearly finished--#42 will be on Thursday, July 17. Yippee! They will wait 6 weeks and follow-up with a scan to see how well the treatments worked.

In general, Dad is doing well! He looks good and is in great spirits. Out of a long list of potential side-effects, He is experiencing only some infrequent hot flashes.

I was privileged enough to go with him to two of his radiation treatments during my visit. I enjoyed watching him interact with the staff in the cancer treatment ward (choke--it's still hard for me to say that! Even harder still for me to follow him in through the door that said "CANCER WARD.") He is so friendly to everyone and constantly repeats, "No matter what, I want God to get the glory." What a HUGE testament to our faith! I am thankful for a strong Christian heritage!

RYAN: Ryan has completed his cancer treatment!! After 4 long months of chemotherapy followed by 1 month of radiation he is now cancer free. Praise the Lord for that!!

JEN"S TRAINING: I am rockin' and rollin'! I never dreamed that I could run distance--I've always been a sprinter. My longest run is now 10 miles, and I am scheduled to run 12 this coming Saturday!! My lung capacity feels good, but I've noticed lots of soreness after about mile 8. I'm sure as my body becomes more used to the stress that I will notice the soreness going away. I am running in the Chicago Distance Classic on August 10 (which is a half-marathon) to help in preparation for San Francisco.

8/14 Update

JEN'S TRAINING: I completed the Chicago Distance Classic half marathon in 2 hours and 6 minutes. It was challenging but do-able. This also marks my longest distance to date. I am slowly creeping up there to the double digit runs. My legs tend to get sore, but my lung capacity feels great.

At track training in May we ran a timed mile which I completed in 8 min 23 sec. Last night we ran another timed mile to see if we had impoved. I ran a 7 min 30 sec mile! I shaved almost a full minute off my time. That's huge progress!

10/22 Update

I DID IT! I ran the Nike Women's Marathon on Sunday and completed 26.2 miles! Thank you so much for your generous support of such a great organization! Together, all of the TNT praticipants raised over $18 million for this event alone! I couldn't have done this without you!