Dearest friends and family,

It's my final week for meeting my fundraising goal. Out of the needed $2,650, people have donated all but $800. My experience with the Leukemia Lymphoma Society has been one of the best experiences of my life.

Doing something you never believed was possible (like running 10 miles in 2 hours) and knowing it is in honor of all sorts of incredible survivors and honored heroes is truly indescribable. In less than a month I'll be on a plane to Alaska to run the half marathon I've been training for, and I'll be giving thanks for all of you who have sent your support, in whatever form you've chosen.

Today, I wanted to show you one of the people I've been fundraising in honor of (see below). Gray's story and sweet little face has stuck with me on all my long runs. Think about his journey and consider donating today. If not monetary donations, I’ll take all the good energy I can get.

We're almost there folks! With your help we can reach that lofty goal I set back in February.

Donations can be made right here on the page.

With appreciation,

*Alexis Branaman

This is Grayson. He just started kindergarten this year and was loving every minute of it.

And now, his new temporary home is a hospital room. About a week and a half ago, he started feeling bad. His legs hurt. He had an occasional nosebleed. As the week went by it got worse. Both legs hurt. His neck hurt. A few strange bruises popped up. After a couple of visits to different doctors, his parents heard the news that they feared most. This horrible disease had taken over his sweet young body and he was working as hard as he could to fight it.

Grayson was diagnosed with leukemia Monday and has already been through so much–surgery and his first round of chemo to name a few. But he’s a strong, feisty little boy with dance moves like you’ve never seen before. He has killer baby blue eyes that have already wooed all of the nurses taking care of him and continues to show what a sweet-natured boy he is by using his manners even when in so much pain. I know, he will beat this. But, he has a long road ahead. I love this little guy so much. I love his whole family, and to see them suffering is breaking my heart.

Please pray for them and for Grayson’s recovery. Pray that his mom, dad and three siblings will be able to stay strong for him and feel somewhat at peace through all of this. Pray for his doctors. If you aren’t the praying type, some happy thoughts are very much appreciated.

- Grayson's Dear Family Friend

You can follow the blog here http://www.whenskiesaregray.com/

After a bout of illness and a heap of other challenges over the past month I'm back on the road to Alaska.

This week I'll get to try running again for the first time in almost a month.

I'm behind and have a long way to go to catch up, but I know I can do it with all your help, prayers and support.

I've switched to the half marathon as a result of my month of illness and lost time for training. 13.1 miles is still very doable for June.

Thank you for being here and please consider donating today.

I appreciate every single one of you.

In my spare time I am a little bit of an aspiring design nerd and after loads of compliments on these posters I make, I decided maybe folks would like me to make them one in exchange for a donation to Leukemia Lymphoma Society.

Below you can see samples of posters I've made for others. I've made them as birthday presents, father's day presents and even engagement gifts!

For a $15 donation you can email me the text (similar in length to the samples below) and the color you would like the emphasized word(s) to be. I will then email you the pdf and you can have it printed as whatever size you like, at a local kinkos. They look best in a matted frame, in my opinion.

For $20 I'll get the poster printed for you in either an 8x10 or an11x14.

For $35 I'll get it printed and framed for you to pick up.

Email acbranaman@gmail.com for more information. Thank you!

We had ourselves a great run on Saturday. It was a 5-miler (hence the people holding up 5s below).

Some folks in my group have already raised $1000! I feel like I'm a titch behind. So let's do this folks! I have faith in us!

So what are you donating to?

I am getting so much from the incredible, inspirational folks with Team in Training. Each week we have an inspiration moment before our runs on Saturdays and are reminded why we are there.

We are there to raise funds for blood cancer research so that our friends, children, spuses, parents and everyone in between can have a chance to get treatment that improves or even saves their lives.

The people (below) wake up at the crack of dawn to run long distances together and learn more about everyone's experiences and what drew them to TNT, all the while raising funds for LLS.

Thank you for being here and thank you for thinking about donating to such an incredible organization.

North Texas TNT Group