Great News! For those who donate $25 or more to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, I will produce and carry a dog tag with your personalized message honoring a cancer survivor or memorializing someone lost to cancer during my 122-mile cycling journey in September. At the conclusion of the ride, I will mail the personalized dog tag to you along with a small token of appreciation.

To start, you need to donate $25 to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in one of two ways:

1. Credit Card (online): Go to http://pages.teamintraining.org/ne/vbvegas12/casecasa

2. Check or Money Order: Send a check or money order made out to “Leukemia & Lymphoma Society” to:

Dave Case

8808 S. 97th St

La Vista, NE 68128

Next, send an email to Casecasa02@ymail.com with subject line “Dog Tag Information”

Include:

Personalized Message - 14 characters max for lines 1 and 5; 15 characters max for lines 2, 3 and 4 (including spaces).

Dog Tag Color: stainless steel, green, or purple

Finally, once both donation and dog tag information is received, I will send you an email confirmation.

Week 12 (5-12 Aug) – Great week! Temperatures were down and boss was away so I got out for a ride almost every day. In fact on Tuesday I rode twice. Second time was to meet with our Honored Hero, Michael Taken and his family. He is a 10 year old cancer survivor. Michael’s a great kid and an enthusiastic bike rider. You can read his story at http://pages.teamintraining.org/ne/vbvegas12/casecasa. The photo attached is our TNT cycling team eating ice cream with Michael after our ride. After the ice cream I headed home hoping to beat a storm coming in. Didn’t work; about 2 miles from home all hell broke loose. Golf-ball size hail (just another reason to wear a helmet) and winds gust to 60-mph literally blew me off the trail. I dragged my bike to shelter behind a mound of dirt to wait it out. Less than 15 minutes later, soaked to the bone, I was able to continue home.

Yesterday we did 75 miles and everyone felt pretty good, able to go further if needed. This ride really helped boost our confidence for the upcoming 122 miles in Vegas on 22 Sep. Think the temperatures had a lot to do with it, 60 degrees when we started at 7 a.m. and about 75 degrees when we finished at 1 p.m. During the ride, Coach Brent took us to the hardest hill available in the local area. A 152 ft climb in .2 miles, 9% incline. He made us take it 3 times to simulate the most difficult hill we will face in Vegas. Everyone’s legs were burning and shaking after that stint. But, what doesn’t kill you just makes you stronger!

Weekly mileage: 200

Teams are made up of individuals. Without them, there is no team.

Friends and Family,

A few weeks ago I saw my doctor, complaining about assorted aches and pains caused by what I thought was over training. He provided an unusual diagnosis; "All your years of hard living has finally caught up with you. It’s time to slow down." My initial reaction was, "Whoa, I've got a bunch of things left to do...no time to slow down now!"

In recognition of the past, I am sending out a big THANK YOU to all my friends and family for your support during those years of "hard living." It's been an awesome adventure so far! Now I'd like to ask for your continued support as I've embarked on a mission to help find cures and effective treatments for blood cancers by participating in endurance events.

To accomplish that mission, on 22 September, I’m biking 120 miles in the 2012 Viva Bike Vegas Gran Fondo as a member of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Team In Training (TnT). My goal is to raise $3000 to help LLS eradicate leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma. I’m improving the quality of my life by participating and with your support; I can help improve the quality of life for patients and their families as well.

Please go to my website @ http://pages.teamintraining.org/ne/vbvegas12/casecasa to make a donation. I also invite you to bookmark this link and follow me during this endeavor as I post stories about race training, TnT fundraising events, great work LLS is accomplishing, and the folks we are helping.

Thank you all in advance for your continued support of my "hard living" lifestyle.

Dave

My story starts on New Year’s Day; with a resolution to run a marathon before the end of 2012…it’s on my bucket list! Training started in earnest on the treadmill in January and February. March marked the transition to outdoor road work and an increase in mileage. Unfortunately, I went too far, too fast and ended up injured. At the doctor’s office, I received an unusual diagnosis. He told me, “All your years of hard living are finally catching up with you; it’s time to slow down.” This “diagnosis” caused me to reduce training and I knew my goal of running a marathon was in jeopardy.

The situation was gnawing at me all the next week when I saw a Team-in-Training (TnT) pamphlet at the gym. Doing a bit of research, I learned TnT is a comprehensive endurance-training program for runners, walkers, cyclists and tri-athletes to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). The goal of TnT is to increase funding to support LLS’s mission while promoting fitness and healthy life styles. LLS is the world’s largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research and providing education and patient services. Founded in 1949, LLS relentlessly pursues a cure for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease, and myeloma all the while improving the quality of life for patients and their families.

I attended a short orientation meeting where program coordinators, coaches, and mentors greeted me with open arms. These complete strangers guaranteed to get me across the finish line of whatever event I choose to enter. I experienced first-hand their dedication to LLS. It dawned on me that TnT is not a one-time event, but a series of life-changing, personal challenges meant to help those in need. I signed on with TnT Thursday, 5 April to bike 120 miles in the 2012 Viva Bike Vegas Gran Fondo and raise $3000 to help support LLS. Goal was to use the biking event to drop a few pounds in preparation to run a marathon.

Here is where my story gets personal. Two nights after committing to TnT, a friend from work passed away. Lieutenant Colonel Veronica “Vern” Hutfles was a decorated B-52 bomber pilot in the US Air Force and only 37 years old. We knew Vern was getting medical treatment, but did not realize the extent of her illness or that she had been fighting cancer for 7 years. Vern fought this horrible disease in silence. Rather than despair about her condition, she diligently committed herself at work, reaching the highest levels of excellence. Vern was well-respected by co-workers and senior leaders alike. Her positive attitude and great sense of humor always encouraged us to push past difficult tasks and exceed expectations. Not once did we hear her complain about the pain that wrecked havoc on her body. Forty-eight hours after signing on to help cancer survivors and research efforts, America lost one of its finest in one of the cruelest ways possible; I’d lost my friend to cancer.

Completing this journey with Team in Training has taken on new meaning; it’s my personal memorial to Vern’s courageous, silent fight and for all my friends and family who suffered cancer’s ravages.

When Michael was only six years old, his parents discovered a lump on his neck. After a biopsy of the lump, Michael was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in July of 2008. Only a few days after the diagnosis, the doctors were in full force trying to cure his cancer. Michael had a PET scan, surgery to place his port, and then his first round of chemotherapy. As scary as this was for Michael and his family, Michael proved to be a brave and strong little boy. He is this year's Nebraska Team-in-Training Cycling team's Honored Hero.

Michael had a total of three rounds of chemotherapy and fourteen days of direct radiation to try and get rid of the Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He also endured several rounds of shots and oral medications every day during this time. At the end of his Hodgkin’s treatments, Michael had another PET scan. The doctors were unsure of the results and indicated the cancer might spread or change forms. They wouldn’t know for sure until they performed a biopsy of both sides of his neck. Michael had the biopsies done in January 2009; a few days later the doctors brought great news...no trace of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma!

Unfortunately, in December of 2010, another lump was found on Michael’s neck. His family was devastated to find out he now had a second form of cancer, this time in the thyroid. January 2011, Michael had surgery to remove his entire thyroid followed by radioactive iodine therapy (RAI). For a few months there was hope that the surgery and treatments had eradicated all of the thyroid cancer, but a few months later the doctors found enlarged, cancerous lymph nodes. September 2011, Michael had a surgery called a left neck dissection. The doctors surgically removed as much suspect tissue as possible before a second dose of RAI was given a few weeks later. Again, Michael's friends and family were hopeful the cancer was gone after all that he had endured. Sadly, several months later, a blood test showed it is likely there is cancer left in his body. Michael had another biopsy to see if it was a lymph node or a suspect nodule on his thymus gland. Those both came back negative for cancer. Now it is an unnerving waiting game for Michael and his family. Each trip to doctor may result in another series of scans, surgeries and treatments.

Presently, Michael is ten years old and feeling good. He is a straight-A fourth grade student, a champion chess club member, a wonderful artist, and a great big brother to his sister Melanie. Michael has remained a very strong boy through all of his medical trials and tribulations. Michael is a very special hero to family, friends, and the community. He is an inspiration to all of us at Team-in-Training.