Racing to Save Lives

Welcome to Jill & Scott's team homepage.

We began training last month with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society�"s (LLS) Team In Training (TNT) program. We completed our last marathon through a similar fundraising program and found it to be highly effective and motivating. So, admittedly, we signed up to fundraise for TNT mainly for the coaching, support and motivation they would provide us, and not so much for the funds we would provide them.

However, our focus and inspiration grew exponentially when we had the joy of meeting our honored hero at our event kickoff. His name is Luke and he is 2 years old. As I sat and watched him at the front of the room, I was taken aback at the wave of emotions that passed over me. His infectious smile and cheerful clapping made me grin from ear to ear. His playful spirit reminded me so much of Kendall, and I imagined they would make great friends. Then, just as soon as my heart warmed from Luke�"s presence, it began to ache and I found myself fighting the tears threatening to fall down my cheeks.

At 13 months old, Luke he was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML), requiring him to go through 6 rounds of chemo every 4 to 6 weeks and numerous blood and platelets transfusions.

I sat there, not able to wrap my head around how his family can possibly have so much strength, how heart wrenching it must be to see him undergo painful treatments. (Hell, I can barely make it through Kendall�"s immunizations.) It pained me to think of such a cheerful, young boy having to endure so much in his life already. And, naturally, I began to think, �Swhat if that were Kendall?�

Thanks to the wonders of medicine and advancements in research and treatment that the LLS and TNT help to fund, Luke has been in remission since April 2008 and is living life as any other 2 year old would be. He plays with his older brothers and enjoys pulling his mom�"s hair lightheartedly as she tries to carry on a serious converstation (as he demonstrated at the kickoff).

We left the kickoff with a new outlook on training for this next big race. We are running for Luke. We are running for his parents and his brothers. We are honoring their family�"s strength. We are training for and finishing this race because we are lucky enough to do so, because our son is healthy and we are immensely grateful for that. We are running because we don�"t know what the future holds, but for today, we can endure the aches and pains, the early, early, early mornings, the heat and the humidity, all so we can support Luke, his family, and others who are forced to run their own exhausting race against blood cancers.

Combined, our goal is to raise $5,800. And, as I�"m sure you can gather, this is the part where I ask for your help. Any donation, no matter the size, will help us reach our goal, and ultimately, help fund research to find a cure for blood cancers.

We hope you will visit our web site often. Be sure to check back frequently to see our progress. Thanks for your support!