Racing to Save Lives

Welcome to my Team In Training home page.

Update: Thanks so much to all my generous donors. I really appreciate it. Our team all finished the VA Beach run over Labor Day Weekend and now it is on the San Francisco.

I'm training to participate in the Nike Women's Half-Marathon in San Francisco as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training. I compete in honor of my younger brother Gerard who passed away from cancer in 2002.

I am also very privileged to have Jennifer Smith, a former member of the CURVES Gym I manage, to be my honored teammate for this season. Jennifer is battling cancer and her story is below:

When I was first told by a lab technician that I had lymphoma, I thought, “Oh okay. Do they have a pill for that?” Although I had heard of leukemia, I was completely nave and uneducated about lymphoma and blood cancers in general. Once I understood I had cancer, I wanted to learn everything I could about lymphoma and soon began hours and hours of searching the internet. Unfortunately, there was way too information to sort through and most of what I read was completely depressing!! I was a wreck! Fortunately, I was referred to a wonderful oncologist by a friend (who had survived breast cancer). Not only did she educate me every step of the way, she referred me to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society where I could get accurate and up to date information. It was invaluable to me.

Advances are being made every day for the treatment of lymphoma. When I was originally diagnosed four years ago, I was treated with a combination of chemo and Rituxan. This past December, my lymphoma returned but this time Rituxan alone was enough to treat it. Rituxan does not have all the harsh side effects of chemo and makes cancer treatment much more tolerable for patients. I have been in remission since March and I am proud to be associated with the Team in Training efforts to help find a complete cure for all blood related cancers.

Update: Since I first started this season, my former assistant manager at Curves has also had a tough struggle with cancer. Janice Wright is a good friend and I am proud to add her as my second honored teammate for this season.

All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, myeloma and all other forms of cancer from taking more lives. People fighting this disease 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 for your support!