5 MINUTES. 5 YEARS. 5 THOUSAND. 5 BOUROUGHS. 5 BRIDGES 

I can’t believe it’s been almost 5 years since I first joined Team in Training to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS).  This year, I have once again made a personal commitment to help find a cure for cancer.  This will be my 4^th season with the Team and I need you to help make a difference.  To celebrate the 5 years of my mother’s remission, I am committed to raise $5,000 and run a span of 26.2 miles in the New York City Marathon on November 1, 2015 that will take me through 5 boroughs and 5 bridges in the city. 

In the Beginning

In 2010, my life was in a state of chaos.  My mother had been diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma the year before in August of 2009.  At the time of her diagnosis, I had a precocious 4 ½ year old and a newborn of just 6 weeks.  I spent my maternity leave in and out of hospitals, rehab facilities, infusion centers, running from house to house to care for my Mom and my own home.  Fast forward a year, she had relapsed and was going to require a bone marrow transplant.  In the middle of the chaos, we found the LLS.

   Zoë (age 5) helping me fundraise in 2010.

Through the LLS, my Mom found comfort in information, advocacy, and a peer group to discuss the disease and fighting or living with it. I found Team in Training. In the chaos, I saw a silver lining, a reason to get up and move my able body.  On November 14, 2010, I ran my first marathon and the next day I walked my Mom into the hospital to start the process of her bone marrow transplant.  That month we reset her clock, stealing moments and cherishing every new day we had together.

   After completing my first event and raising $1,800. November, 2010.

Today

Now it’s time to recognize the huge impact that the LLS has had in my family’s life.

Why do I keep coming back you might ask? I come back again and again, I donate to the LLS every year, and I run for those who can’t because I want to live in a world free of cancer. I have met too many child warriors and their families battling cancer.  I want to see the rate of childhood cancer decrease and the survival rate increase.  I come back because I support the LLS mission: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease, and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.

Every four minutes, someone new is diagnosed with blood cancer. Every 10 minutes, someone dies. Leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children under the age of 20.  It is the leading cause of death by disease among children (ages 1-19 in the US). Lymphomas are the most common blood cancers and incidence increases with age. The survival rate for myeloma is only 38.5 percent.  Please take 5 minutes to donate or share this with your social circles.

Here’s how you can help:

1. Make a tax-deductible donation on my secure fundraising website. Just click on Donate Now on this page. Please remember to leave me a message.  I love to see the words of encouragement.  Sharing stories of "In Memory" or "In Honor of" those you love who have been touched by cancer is important, and I encourage you to share if you wish.
2. Find out if your company contributes matching charitable donations and fill out the required paperwork.  In some instances, you can double your donation with a company match!
3. If you are unable to donate at this time, you can help me by sharing this page with everyone you know.  The more people we can reach, the more likely we are to reach our goal. Do you know 20 people who would donate $25 to help save lives? Reach out to them now. 

Your donation will help fund research for treatments that save lives every day; like immunotherapy that uses 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!

Carla De La Chapa