I'll cut to the chase. I want to end cancer. And to do that, I want you to donate some of your hard-earned money. If you've got another cancer or charity you like to give to, give to them. But if you're here and have five bucks or a hundred or whatever, let's do this thing. I'll be chipping in my own money. And I'll be running a marathon.
Fact: A kid diagnosed with blood cancer in the 1960s had a 4% chance of survival. A kid today has a 90% chance. And that's thanks to scientific advances made possible by the money you donate.
I've never had leukemia or lymphoma. I don't have an extremely personaly weepy tale to break your heart and make you cry (but I will be digging up some of those at some point). My one brush with cancer was a basal cell carcinoma on my nose a few years back and I'd hardly count that as a scare, much less some life-threatening battle. (In fact, the very first TNT meeting I went to, they asked anyone who'd survived cancer to stand up and I didn't because it felt like cancer-light compared to what these people had been through.)
So why the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society? Why Team in Training? Honestly, because I fell into it through work back in 2010. Ad Age had a corporate team at the time and, not to pat myself on the back here, but I'm the one who actually showed up for practices and the like. I fell in love with the Brooklyn group of wackos and stuck with it for the next five years, taking over the Ad Age team at one point. Last year, however, I bailed on the Team in Training fall season. And I missed it.
I'm still running. I'm currently training for the Brooklyn Half all by my lonesome. Running is a solitary sport. Or it can be. I like that about it. But I also like to socialize. And I also like to feel I'm doing something other than just logging miles and possibly dropping pounds when all I'm going to do is get old one day and die anyway. Dark turn, there, Ken! But you know what I mean. Why not use this thing I'm doing to make some sort of difference.
And this, I've learned, is one of the great things about LLS and Team in Training. Since its founding in 1949, LLS has invested more than $1 billion to advance cancer therapies and save lives. That's not the money raised. That's the money invested. Survival rates for blood cancers have doubled and in some cased quadrupled since the 1960s. Want to meet some of the people directly helped by this money? Here you go.
Have you heard of immune-based gene therapy? If you've donated here, you've helped advance that fight.
Progress is not only being made against blood cancer, but the research being done on blood cancers is going to roll out to the fight against other cancers.
So I'm back. It's a little different this time around. I don't work at Ad Age anymore. The Brooklyn team is probably just bigger than ever. I live all the way out here in Bay Ridge (where quite a few of the other team members are washing up). And instead of training for a half marathon, I'll be training for the Marine Corps full marathon. I've run full marathons before, but I haven't run one with TNT.
One note about not working at Ad Age anymore. That means I don't get any matching funds from an employer. So I need to hit that $1,200 goal all by my lonesome. Completely doable. And, in fact, I want to blow that goal out of the water.
WELCOME TO MY TEAM IN TRAINING (TNT) HOME PAGE!
It takes more than one person to make up a team and that’s why I’m asking you to donate to my TNT fundraising page for TNT!
By participating as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) TNT, I am raising funds to help find cures and ensure access to treatments for blood cancer patients.
Your donation will help fund treatments that save lives every day; like immunotherapies that use a person’s own immune system to kill cancer. You may not know it, but every single donation helps save a life with breakthrough therapies such as these.
Patients need these cures and they need your support.
Please make a donation in support of my efforts with Team In Training and help get us all closer to a world without blood cancers.
Thank you!
David Baldwin | $100.00 |
Amanda Brophy | $100.00 |
Bethany Poole | $100.00 |
Adam Noren | $100.00 |
Saer Coulter | $100.00 |
Scott Kawczynski | $100.00 |
April Kyle Nassi | $100.00 |
Sasha LeGeros | $100.00 |
KATHERINE LEGEROS BA... | $100.00 |
Cara Carline | $100.00 |
Hugh Thistlethwaite | $100.00 |
B. Imada | $100.00 |
Felicia | $100.00 |
Ben Kunz | $100.00 |
Hannah Holdsworth | $50.00 |
Eric Webber | $50.00 |
Anonymous | $50.00 |
Nichole Robertson | $50.00 |
Zharmer Hardimon | $50.00 |
Anmol Bhagchand | $50.00 |
Katerina Miras | $50.00 |
Natalie Tucker | $50.00 |
Carol Tang | $50.00 |
Will Palley | $50.00 |
Kerri Zezulinski | $50.00 |
Karol Markowicz | $50.00 |
Douglas Pace | $50.00 |
Brad Colvin | $50.00 |
Becky Gibson | $50.00 |
Maureen Morrison | $25.00 |
Lorne Quebodeaux | $25.00 |
Darlene Charneco | $25.00 |
Amy Gaiennie | $25.00 |
Chad & Christina... | $25.00 |
Natasha Alagarasan | $25.00 |
Lisa Stuppler | $25.00 |
Tibby Iz | $25.00 |
Scott Curatolo-Wagem... | $25.00 |
Dina & Jason &am... | $25.00 |
Patrick Bennett | |
Andrew Hirshman | |
Jim Christianson | |
Corey Joubert | |
Tracy Keller |
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The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society® (LLS) is a global leader in the fight against cancer. The LLS mission: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. LLS funds lifesaving blood cancer research around the world, provides free information and support services, and is the voice for all blood cancer patients seeking access to quality, affordable, coordinated care. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is a 501(c)(3) organization, and all monetary donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowed by tax laws. Please check with your financial advisor if you have more questions.