Running to Save Lives

As some of you already know, in 2006 I participated in The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Hike for Discovery program and raised over $5,000. I'm back and this time I am training to participate in another endurance event through Team in Training. I will be running 26.2 miles with my teammates in the Disney World Marathon on January 9th. Between now and then, each mile we run physically and mentally prepares us for this memorable experience and each dollar we make helps LLS find treatments and cures for leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma and Hodgkin's disease.

I never thought I would follow in my mother's footsteps as a marathon runner, but I believe that I carry with me the strength that she once possessed. She didn't even let a degenerative bone disease slow her down until it forced her to become bed ridden. In March 2000, my mother passed away at the young age of 44. I run in her honor.

Somehow destiny brought me to LLS back in 2006 because while I was training to hike the Grand Canyon, my father was diagnosed with cancer. Fortunately, I had a strong network of support through my teammates. After enduring a year of chemo treatments and radiation treatments, my father is cancer free! My father is a fighter and a survivor. I run in his honor.

The moral of this story: life brings unexpected events. There are many people out there who have cancer and need our help. LLS provides financial assistance and support groups and funds awareness education and research. Hopefully my motivation to run 26.2 miles will inspire you to make a 100% tax-deductible donation in which seventy-five percent goes directly to the mission. Some of you have your own personal connection to cancer and I would like to hear your stories if you are willing to share. I will run in honor of all those who have had to battle cancer.

I hope you will visit my web site often to check my progress. Thanks for your support!

Keep tabs on my progress by regularly checking out my blog!

http://heidiaponte.wordpress.com/