Once again, this year I'm training to participate in an endurance event, 100 miles of cycling in a single day!, as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training. All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives.

This year, with the humble permission of his family, I have chosen to dedicate my ride in honor of the father of one of my colleagues, who has been battling Lymphoma with strength, dignity and courage! Dr. Adel Ibrahim, pictured here, was stricken with Lymphoma in 2003 at the age of 56. Since then he has endured several rounds of chemotherapy and most recently underwent a bone marrow transplant. His treatments, due to their complexity, have required him to be away from home and hospitalized for many months at a time. His daughter, Sherrine, currently a third year resident in my department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at Johns Hopkins Hospital, has been a devoted and ministering caregiver and inspiration to him, even as she must commit to grueling training and work hours that keep her from physically being at his side as often she would otherwise like to be.

Dr. Ibrahim was a surgeon and loved his work. He found nothing more rewarding than a full day in the operating room and spending time with his patients. Lymphoma took Dr. Ibrahim's ability to work away, depriving him from making a living and enjoying what should have been the most fulfilling years of his career. Still, watching his daughter already carrying on his devotion and dedication to helping others is an enormous boost to his outlook for the future, especially now with the arrival of her first child, Keira, just born on April 5, --- 7 lbs, 15 oz of pride, joy and hope!

Dr. Adel Ibrahim is grateful for the efforts of those who try to make a difference and prays that one day soon a cure will be found for Lymphoma. Knowing that there are those who care enough to make a contribution in his honor and that those funds produce measurable results each day, each hour, in the fight against blood cancers, raises his spirits and allows him to know what a hero he is, not just to his family, but to all of us who wish him a permanent, lasting and complete

recovery!

Kindly give as generously as you feel you can. No amount is too small. Your support enables all of us: patients, families, cyclists and donors alike, to cross the ultimate finish line: a cure!