Try chemotherapy...

And so Chapter Six begins in my Team In Training adventure book. To keep things interesting, I have chosen a new mode of transportation...This year, I will train to complete a 100-mile bike ride in Moab, UT in late September and strive to raise $5,000 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Six years ago, I started this adventure book of endurance events with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as a Team In Training participant and volunteer. I trained for my first triathlon and raised over $4,000 in memory of my dear friend, Roger Miller, who lost his battle to lymphoma in November of 2005. It was Roger who gave me the mantra to last a lifetime...

"Anywhere worth going is always uphill."

Soon after that first triathlon, I moved to Washington, DC and began my career as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society staff. Soon after I started, my cousin's four year old, Kade, was diagnosed with ALL, the most common form of childhood leukemia.

Sixty years ago, a child like Kade would have had less than a 4% chance of surviving. Now, children diagnosed with ALL have nearly a 90% survival rate. Today, Kade is well and in complete remission after a three-year protocol of chemotherapy and other treatments.

Thank heaven for supporters and scientists who have been striving uphill

and have never given up on finding a cure.

Ever since my first finish line, I have been striving to raise as much awareness and resources as I can personally in the fight against cancer. I've known too many friends, family members and associates who have been affected by cancer and I feel like it is a personal calling in my life to do all I can in the fight against cancer.

I support LLS because the research conducted and patient services offered by LLS are invaluable. In the last decade alone, of the 39 drugs approved by the FDA for cancer treatments, HALF of them were approved first for the treatment of blood related cancers. Now, some of those drugs are being used the fight against other cancers, including breast cancer, stomach cancer and melanoma, as well as other diseases like Alzheimer's and rheumatoid arthritis.

These discoveries about blood cancers are unlocking the secrets of other cancers and diseases every day and that is something that I can totally get excited about!

I am once again training and fundraising and I will once again be asking for support. I want to take this chance at the beginning of this season to THANK YOU, each and every one, for the support you've given in the past and will give this season.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

These are my TNT co-workers and friends. FOUR of them are cancer survivors and I can't think of a day without them in my life as valued co-workers and friends. That's what supporting LLS means to me...more moments with those I know and love.

Please join me in this fight against cancer by donating today.

Again, thank you for your support.

With great thanks and much love,

Tracy Shaw

1705 Belle View Blvd. J-1

Alexandria, VA 22307

336.302.2323

**If you prefer to donate via check,

you may make the check out to "LLS" and mail it to me at the address above**