Welcome to our homepage for Team Berkeley.

On October 29, 2013, a very special five year-old, Berkeley, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). Berkeley (Berk) is the daughter of our close friends Tarah and JB. She loves dance, tennis, swimming, and gymnastics. She also loves to play with her friends and spend time with her parents, little brother, grandparents, and cousins. She also has many buddies (stuffed animals) who are very important to her. Throughout the years she has taught us many important lessons about patience and love, and she is continuing to teach us many important lessons about life through her fight with cancer.

After learning about Berk's diagnosis we knew we had to do something. Berk lives in Kansas, and we live in Washington, DC, so we felt we couldn't give her, and her family, the physical support we had hoped. However, after hearing about the opportunity to fundraise and improve the lives of patients with her type of blood cancer, we committed to run the Nike Women's Half Marathon on April 27, 2014 and raise at least $3,600. The money raised through our efforts will help find cures and more effective treatment for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease, and myeloma.

We have a lot of work ahead of us as we train for our race. We are not experienced runners. Right now, 13.1 miles seems impossible. However, thinking about Berk's daily battle with cancer puts everything into perspective. If she can fight cancer, we can run 13.1 miles and raise money for this cause.

This opportunity would not be available without The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team in Training program. Throughout the nation people are coming together to create separate teams to participate in sports endurance events all with one common goal to honor and benefit all individuals battling blood cancers. Members of LLS's Team in Training will be creating teams, large and small, that will be participating in sports events across the country. As a team, we can accomplish great things towards cures for blood cancers.

We are doing this in honor of Berk. If you would like to join us in the battle to conquer blood cancers, please consider donating to our team. If you are interested in following Berk's journey through her battle, please visit: www.facebook.com/BerkeleysBattle.

Together, there's no telling what we can do. As a Team, we can save lives.