My Fundraising Page

Racing to Save Lives

This is my stepson, Casey. We spent his 6th birthday (7-8-08) in the hospital waiting for him to recover from an emergency surgery for intestinal issues. Lexy (my daughter) and I were visiting him in the recovery area (he was still out cold) when the surgeon came over and asked me to go get his mom because he needed to speak to us. I had a feeling this was not going to be good news but hoped I was worrying for nothing. I went to get his mom and when we returned, the surgeon said that when he was performing the surgery, he noticed a lump in Casey's intestine. He said he removed it and they sent it to radiology, but they believed it was Lymphoma. I was so shocked I had no idea how to react. A million emotions hit me all at once. I felt dizzy, hot and cold at the same time, and so nauseated I seriously thought I was going to throw up right there. I had to hold onto Casey's hospital bed because my knees buckled and I almost fell right down on the ground. All of this happened in about 2 seconds. On the 3rd second, I knew I had to get it together and be strong. My 13 year old daughter was sitting right there and had heard what the doctor had just said. Casey is Lexy's whole world. She was at the hospital the day he was born and they are each other's favorite person. I couldn't let her see me fall apart. I also knew I needed to be strong for Casey's mom because she immediately started crying. After the initial shock and hearing that the prognosis was good, we all started thinking of what to do next. How do we pay for this? Who is going to stay home with him because he can't go to school or daycare anymore? The days were long and hard. After several days in the hospital, Chris and I had to go back to work. That was really hard, not being there with him every minute of the day. After work we would go to the hospital or his apartment and visit him. We watched him change right before our eyes. He went from a sweet, happy-go-lucky kid without a care in the world whose favorite color is pink, to a mean beaten down pale little guy with dark circles under his eyes. The steroids made him angry and frustrated. He would go days where he wouldn't eat a thing and then others he would eat everything in sight (including peanut butter and jelly sandwich dipped in Chick Fila honey mustard!). He has gone through several rounds of chemo, plenty of blood transfusions and too many nights in the hospital to count. He lost his hair and his eyelashes, but never his strength and determination. Casey is now in remission and finally got to start 1st grade in January. His hair and eyelashes have grown back and he's the same sweet, happy-go-lucky kid whose favorite color is pink that he used to be. Unfortunately, not all cancer patients are as blessed as Casey. Some battle this disease for years. Some of those people ultimately lose their grueling battle with this horrible disease after years of living with the torture of the disease as well as the treatment itself.

I am training to participate in the Rock N Roll San Antonio Half Marathon as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) Team In Training. All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkins disease and myeloma from taking more lives. My goal is $3200. I am completing this event in honor of Casey and all individuals who are battling blood cancers. These people are the real heroes on our team, and we need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - a cure!

I hope you will visit my web site often and forward my site on to all of your friends as well. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress. Thanks for your support!